


Gone

by Traw



Category: The Streets of San Francisco
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crime, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2018-10-31 13:45:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 43
Words: 63,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10900575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traw/pseuds/Traw
Summary: The members of the San Francisco Homicide team had always been close, like a small family. But what had began as just an easy Sunday morning. either just wrapping up cases, or spending a few days away from the job catching up with an old friend and doing some fishing, would suddenly turn their team's world up-side-down and leave them desperately searching for answers.





	1. Chapter 1

Lee Lessings stared at the shattered, burnt remains of what was once Steve's LTD, wrapped around the base of a tree. He shook his head as his hand lightly touched a piece of the still warm, charred metal, he couldn't believe that Steve was really gone. What had started off as an easy Sunday, wrapping up cases while Mike was away, had now ended in tragedy.

He swallowed hard as he remembered his light teasing of Steve earlier in the day, claiming his friend's decision to go to re-interview a witness in preparation of an upcoming court case was just an excuse for him sneak off to see the pretty young waitress who had been flirting with him when they had gone to the café to buy lunch. He had laughed when Steve had stammered and blushed, admitting that he had thought about dropping back at the café on his way back to the bullpen, just for a cup of coffee and maybe to get the waitress's number.

He stared at the wreckage, still unable to believe that this was really happening and he found himself praying that Steve had not been conscious when the car had burst into flames.

"Steve would have died instantly." Bill tried to reassure his young colleague softly, lightly placing his hand on Lee's back, answering Lee's unvoiced fear before he asked, "Does Mike know yet?"

Lee swallowed hard and shook his head. "Rudy's trying to track him down to tell him about the…the accident but he has gone away for a few days to unwind and do a little bit of fishing with an old air force buddy. Only Steve knew where he was going and he wasn't telling anyone, not even Rudy, he wanted Mike to have a couple of days to relax and not think about the job." Forcing himself to turn away from the LTD, he looked back up the trail of broken and crushed undergrowth to the muddy road above them before he looked back at Bill and asked, "Do you think this was really an accident?"

Bill, startled by Lee's question because of the overwhelming evidence of the skid marks on the slick, wet road above that indicated that Steve had lost control of his car as he rounded the bend in the road and that no other cars had been involved, stared at his upset friend and frowned. "Don't you?"

Looking back at the wreckage in which Steve had lost his life only an hour before, Lee shrugged.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Carrying the small thermos containing hot coffee in one hand and a bag in which he had packed several of his special man size club sandwiches he had just made in his other, Eric Leeds tramped down the rugged and slightly overgrown trail that led from the small cabin down to the banks of the river as he called out to his fishing companion. "Brr, its cold enough to freeze a squirrel's nuts, I hope those fish you've been telling me about are biting."

He froze, dropping both the sandwiches and the thermos, shocked, when he reached the spot where he had left his friend fishing only a few minutes before. The chair in which his friend had been sitting was toppled over, the fishing rod was laying half in and out of the water, and it was evident that the edge of the bank had broken away into the water. He felt his heart rise into his throat as he saw the familiar, well-battered fishing hat, Mike had been wearing, bobbing up and down on the gentle waves as the deceptively strong current carried it out of sight around the bend of the river. "Ohh God, Mike!" he gasped in horror as he began to run along the river bank, keeping his eyes on the water, desperately searching for some sign, any sign of his missing friend. "Mike? Where are you, Mike?" he yelled, "Mike, answer me!"


	2. Chapter 2

"He was only going to Sunset to go over Sullivan's statements and help Sullivan prepare for the court case this week." Lee sighed as he stared out of glass window that looked out of Mike's office into the bullpen. He still could not believe that Steve was really gone. "I teased him about trying to sneak off, while Mike was away, to flirt with that waitress at Julios."

"Lee…" Roy Devitt said softly, in an attempt to stop the younger man's self-recrimination. Lee had taken Steve's death hard. Roy sighed, they all had. Losing a colleague in the line of duty was extremely difficult for the whole department, even more so for members of the homicide team, but losing Steve because of a car accident, especially an accident as horrific as this one, made it a million times worse.

He was dreading having to break the news to Mike when they discovered where Mike was vacationing. Mike had simply told everyone was he was going fishing for a week and Steve had insisted on keeping Mike's whereabouts a secret, the younger man determined that his partner's long anticipated week off would not get interrupted by work. Roy sighed, he had attempted to contact Jeannie at her college to discover her father's current whereabouts but like her father, Jeannie's current whereabouts were also unknown.

Spinning back to face his lieutenant, Lee hit the wall behind him with his fist as he growled, "He was supposed to be going to Sunset, what was he even doing on the Saddle Loop trail?"

"I don't know, " Roy answered quietly, the same questions that Lee was demanding answers to were also going through his mind. Questions he had no answers to. He knew Steve could be a little impulsive at times, maybe today that impulsiveness got him killed.

A soft rap on the office door pulled Roy from his depressing thoughts and he looked up as Bill entered the office. Glancing at Lee who had turned back to stare out at Steve's desk in the bullpen before returning his attention back to Roy, Bill walked slowly across to the desk and handed Roy a slim manila folder. "Charlie's preliminary report of the accident."

Roy nodded silently and placed the manila folder unopened on the desk, not yet willing to read the forensic details of Steve's final moments as Bill sat down on one of the chairs in front of Mike's desk and hesitantly began to tell his lieutenant the forensic findings of the accident contained in the report. "The lab boys estimate Steve's car was traveling about 60 miles an hour before Steve…" Bill swallowed hard, casting a quick glance at Lee who did not seem to be listening before returning his attention to Roy as he forced himself to continue his report as professionally as he could, "Ummm… before the driver lost control on the muddy road causing the car to leave the road and crash over the embankment. The fuel tank was ruptured as the car traveled through the undergrowth and the fuel ignited when the car hit the tree, engulfing the car in fire… There…there was no chance for…" Bill look down, unable to look at the either man as he cleared the lump from his throat and continued, "There would have been no time for … Ste…for umm…anyone to escape, even if they were able to get out of the car."

"Was there any possibility of any other cars being involved?" Roy asked quietly.

Shaking his head, Bill answered, "There were no evidence that any other cars involved, all the tire tracks at the scene have been accounted for and there was no damage to Steve's car that indicated that he might have been forced off the road. All the damage to the car is consistent with what I would expect to see from such a high-speed collision."

"Could the accident have been caused by some mechanical fault with the car? Maybe Steve's brakes failed or the accelerator…"

"Charlie checked," Bill replied softly, before taking a deep breath as he looked across at Lee who did not even appear to be listening to the conversation before looking back at Roy, "The car was in good roadworthy condition before the accident, he ruled that speed and driver error were most likely responsible for the accident."

"He knew that road was dangerous when it's raining, why was he driving so fast?" Lee demanded as he suddenly spun around to face Roy and Bill, his anger, frustration and grief bubbling over.

"That's what we are going to find out." Roy reminded Lee quietly as they were interrupted by a knock on the door before a uniformed officer opened the door and entered.

"Excuse me, Sir, I have a gentleman who is demanding to speak with whoever is in charge of investigating Inspector Keller's accident. He claims he is Inspector Keller's father."

"Keller's father?" Roy asked in surprise, casting a quick glance towards Bill and Lee who both appeared as confused and surprised as he felt. He had always been under the belief that both of Steve's parents had died before Steve had joined the department. The younger man had never spoken about his family or what had happened to his parents but Roy knew that Steve had listed Mike as his Next-of-Kin in his personal file shortly after becoming Mike's partner. Returning his attention back to the young uniformed officer standing in the doorway. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir," the young officer nodded his affirmation nervously. "I have him waiting to speak to you downstairs in Duty Sergeant's office."

Rising from his chair, Roy looked across at Lee as he rounded the office desk, "I want you to try and find out Steve's movements after he left the bullpen this morning. I want to know what he was doing on Saddle Loop drive."

Lee swallowed hard and nodded woodenly as he turned and left the office, hurrying across to Steve's desk to search for the address of the witness Steve had told him that he was going to re-interview.

"Bill, I want you to try and locate Mike," Roy ordered over his shoulder as they followed the young officer out of Mike's office, "I know that sometimes Mike heads to cabin in Yosemite when he wants to do some fishing and get away from everything for a few days."

"On it, Roy." Bill acknowledged the order as he changed direction and headed across to his desk as Roy followed the young uniformed officer out of the bullpen.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Lifting the radio mic up as he pressed the button, the park rancher turned towards the thick forest that lined the river bank as he asked, "Find anything, Tom?" Releasing the button, he sighed as his radio crackled to life and he heard his partner's negative reply.

_"Nothing but some animal trails down to the water and some bear tracks along the water's edge. This guy went into the water about an hour ago, didn't he?"_

Pulling the mic back up to his mouth, the ranger pressed the button, glanced across at the anxious man who had reported his friend's disappearance and sighed as he answered softly, "Yeah, would have been about an hour ago, give or take a couple of minutes."

_"Well if he did manage to get out the water before his clothes dragged him under or hypothermia set in, with how thick the undergrowth is around here, the chances are we could walk right past him and never even see him."_

Depressing the mic button again, the ranger glanced towards the icy water before looking back at the thick ferns and trees that surround the little clearing where the two friends had been fishing less than fifty yards from one of the most secluded cabins in the park as he agreed, "Yeah, I know, but keep looking. I'm gunna head back to the station and radio for more help with the search. I will also take his friend back with me, I think we had better start contacting the victim's next-of-kin and inform them about what's happened."

_"Glad that's your job and not mine, Buddy."_

"Gee, thanks!" the ranger murmured into the radio before he allowed his hand holding the radio to drop back down to his side before he walked back towards the upset man who was still scanning the banks or the river, searching for any sign of his friend. Placing his hand on the older man's shoulder, he ordered gently, "I need you to come back to the ranger's station with me. We need to call in more searchers and I also need to get a full statement off you about what happened as well as the contact details of Lieutenant Stone's next-of-kin."

"Mike's next-of-kin? Do we really need to contact his daughter yet? I … I mean, we haven't even found…" Eric stammered as he turned back to look at the river.

"I'm afraid so," the ranger answered gently as he began to guide the shocked man back along the trail.

"You're right," Eric agreed reluctantly, "But please, I was the one who talked Mike into joining me for a week's fishing here, I should be the one who tells her…"

_SOSF SOSF SOSF_

Humming as she carefully picked up her parent's wedding photos and wiped the dust off them, Jeannie smiled. She wanted the house to be sparkling, when her father returned from his fishing trip. She paused a moment as her finger traced lovingly over her mother's and father's smiling images before she gently returned the photo back onto its spot on the table and picked up the next photo of both her father and herself at her high school graduation. Mike looked so proud.

She bit her bottom lip as she stared at her father in the photo, she could never imagine just how hard it was for him to lose his wife to cancer and be left raising a young daughter on his own. She remembered her own confusion and grief during her mother's illness and passing and how patient and gentle Mike had been with her, never once giving into his own soul shattering grief, instead he had stayed incredibly strong for her, always putting her first. And although there were times when she desperately missed her mother, she always knew Mike loved her with all his heart and would always be there for her no matter what.

Shaking her head at the melancholy thoughts away, she smiled as she imagined Mike's surprise to find her home for his birthday when he returned from his fishing trip. She had told him that this year because of the heavy study workload and exams that she would not be able to get away from college to celebrate it with him. As much as she hated to hear the disappointment that Mike tried to cover up in his voice, she wanted to surprise him with a special birthday dinner, a dinner with just the two of them, a dinner where she could tell him about her own exciting news.

_"And news just in, a driver has been killed in a fiery crash on the Saddle Loop trail earlier this morning. Police_ _state it is believed that speed and driver error may have contributed to the crash and the driver was killed when the car left the road at high speed after sliding in muddy conditions before becoming airborne and smashing into a tree, the car is believed to have erupted into flames on impact. The driver is believed to have been killed instantly. Although the driver's body has not yet been formally identified, an unnamed source from the San Francisco Police Department has stated it is believed the driver was San Francisco Homicide Inspector, Steven Keller."_

Jeannie Stone felt the blood drain from her face as she stopped dusting and slowly turned towards the television, staring at Steve's photo as it was flashed up on the screen. There had to be some sort of mistake. She had only been talking to Steve earlier this morning as he helped her with her plans for Mike's surprise birthday dinner.

_"The San Francisco Homicide department are refusing to confirm or deny that identity of the driver is Homicide Inspector Steven Keller or if the inspector may have been involved in a high-speed police pursuit at the time of the accident or give us a reason why the driver would have been traveling at such a high speed on a public road before the accident. We will bring further updates to this breaking story as they become available…"_

She jumped as the phone began to ring before she turned slowly around and stared at it. Biting her bottom lip as she blinked away the tears, she forced herself to pick it up, knowing that the caller was probably Roy or Rudy, probably trying to call to break the news of Steve's death to Mike if he was home from his vacation. Her hand shook as she pressed the phone against her ear as she whispered through her tears, "Hello…"

"Jeannie, this is Eric Leeds..."


	3. Chapter 3

Pushing the door to the Duty Sergeant's office open, Roy froze for a moment as he stared at the man slumped down on the chair with a mug of coffee clutched in his hands. The similarities between this man and Steve were uncanny, he could easily see the family resemblance between the two. Steve was just a younger version of the distraught man who looked up and was watching him as he entered. "Mr Keller?" he asked. At the other man's affirmative nod, he held out his hand and shook his hand as he introduced himself, "I'm Lieutenant Roy Devitt,"

"Brian." The other man said, pointing at himself.

"Brian," Roy corrected himself, "I am one of Steve's Lieutenants and I am leading the investigation into the accident that happened today."

"Steve's accident?"

"We have not yet formally identified the driver," Roy cautioned him, "unfortunately given the circumstances of the accident, formal identification may take some time, so until we do we can't confirm the victim is your son."

"But even if you haven't been able to officially identify his body, you do know it's Steve, don't you? I mean I was told it was his unmarked police car and he was the last person known to be driving it."

"I'm afraid so," Roy nodded reluctantly before his frown deepened in confusion as to why this man Steve had never spoken about and everyone had assumed had died was so suddenly interested in what had happened to his son as he shook his head and admitted, "I'm sorry Brian, but Steve never spoke about you, I guess I just assumed that…"

"I was dead," Brian finished as he looked down into his cup of coffee before he looked back up uncomfortably at Roy, "I guess in Steve's mind I was." He swallowed hard as Roy frowned in confusion before he added resignedly, "Not that I could really blame him for not wanting me in his life anymore, after all I am the one who killed his mother."

"You killed his mother?" Roy gasped in surprise as he stared at the distraught man sitting in front of him, no wonder Steve had never spoken about his family. "How…I mean…"

Brian nodded and swallowed hard, his hand tightening around the mug he was holding as he softly admitted how through one stupid but extremely selfish and deadly act had totally destroyed his family, causing him not to only lose the woman he loved with all his heart but the son he would lay down his own life for. "If you want to know if I murdered her," Brian looked up and slowly shook his head, "The answer is legally… no… what happened was an accident and i was guilty of manslaughter but Steve has made it quite clear that as far as he is concerned, I did murder her not that I can blame him."

Running his hand over his head, in a move Roy had often seen Steve do when he was thinking about something or when he was feeling stressed, Brian continued softly, unable to look Roy in the eye. "It was our twentieth wedding anniversary, Steve was away at Uni, studying his first year of law. We had gone out to dinner to celebrate," A small smile crossed his lips as he remembered how beautiful Jenny had looked, "Jenny was dressed in her red dress, she looked absolutely beautiful, you know she never seemed to age, she was always that beautiful girl whom I fell in love with during high school." He shook his head and took a small sip of coffee as he tried to work up the courage to tell this man, one of Steve's bosses and probably one of Steve's friends how he had totally shattered not only his but also his son's worlds.

Watching the other man closely, Roy's heart sunk as he realized just what he was probably about to hear.

Looking up at Roy, Brian took a large breath as he forced himself to go on, he owed it to Steve," Well I guess I had a little too much to drink." He shook his head as his voice dropped as he admitted, "Jenny begged for me not to drive, for us to take a cab home. I can still hear her pleading with me when I close my eyes at night but I insisted that I was okay to drive despite the fact I knew I was drunk, I wasn't drunk just a little tipsy and it was just a short five-minute drive home…. Jenny finally relented and agreed. I…I remember she smiled and squeezed my hand as she told me that she trusted me, that if I said I was fine, then I was fine. She… she told me how much she loved me and thanked me for everything I gave her, including our son…"

Unable to sit any longer, Brian placed the mug back onto the desk as he rose from his seat and began to pace as his words tumbled out in a rush, "I can't remember the accident, I just remember waking up in the hospital and being told the Jenny had died. The police officer told me that I had lost control of the car and had crashed into a tree. Jenny didn't have a chance, she took the full impact, she was killed instantly and I escaped with just minor injuries. Steve was devastated, he couldn't forgive me for killing his mother. The last time I spoke or even saw him was at Jenny's funeral. He didn't even come to my trial when I pleaded guilty to gross vehicle manslaughter for Jenny's death."

Roy stared at Brian in surprise, wondering just what the other man had left out of his story, "You pleaded guilty to gross vehicle manslaughter?"

"Yeah," Brian answered softly, shaking his head, "I…I had a couple of prior convictions for DUI. After the second one, after jenny had bailed me out I promised both her and Steve that I had learned my lesson and I would never drink and drive again. I guess that's one of the reasons why Steve couldn't forgive me after the accident."

Roy nodded silently as he watched Brian begin to pace again.

"I always hoped that one day that maybe…just maybe…one day that he would forgive me, God know why because I can never forgive myself for what I did… but I guess now that's never going to happen…." His voice trailed away as he turned and walked back to the window, looking out at the grey skies as he blinked away the tears. Taking a deep breath, he turned back to Roy, his heartbreak written across his face as he forced himself to ask the one question that was haunting him since he had heard of Steve's death on the radio, "The news said he was killed when the car crashed into a tree and caught on fire, please, I need to know, do they know if he suffered at all." He choked on a sob as he lost his battle to stop the tears from falling as he closed his eyes and half murmured, half prayed, "Oh God, I hope he didn't know what was happening…"

"We haven't received the results of the autopsy yet but the officers whom I have spoken to, who attended the scene, all agree that they believe Steve probably died instantly."

"Can…can I see him?"

Roy quickly shook his head, the image of Steve's body, when he had attempted to make a visual identification and failed in the morgue, slammed into his mind, "No, sorry but I don't think that would be a good idea."

Brian nodded slowly and turned back to the window as they were interrupted by a light rap on the door.

Glancing at the upset man, Roy sighed before he turned and walked across to the door, opening it.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Roy," Lee said quietly, glancing into the room at the man standing with his back to them at the window before returning his attention back to his lieutenant, "But there's an important phone call for you. It's Jeannie Stone and she sounds extremely upset."

"Jeannie?"

Lee nodded, "She asking for you, she's not making much sense, she said she heard about Steve on the television and then said something about Mike has gone missing while fishing in Yosemite Park and they think he has drowned."

"She said Mike's missing and is presumed drowned?" Roy asked, stunned by the news.

Lee swallowed and nodded as he attempted to push down his grief in front of the man who claimed he was Steve's father and who had turned and now appeared to be listening into their conversation.

Turning back to Brian, Roy cleared his throat, "Sorry, but I have to go but Inspector Lessings will get your contact details and I promise as soon as we know anything more about what the accident or we are able to confirm that the crash victim is Steve, I will contact you."

Brian nodded as he watched Roy turn and head out the door before he said, "Sorry Lieutenant but before you go, I have just one more question I really need to ask." Turning back, Roy frowned as Brian rushed on. "I was wondering are you sure there were any no other cars involved in Steve's accident?"

Roy's frown deepened as he cast a quick glance across at Lee who seemed as confused by the question as he was before returning his attention back to Brian, "No, as I told you so far all our investigations at the crash site indicate that Steve lost control of his car in the wet and hit the tree. Why?"

"Umm, no reason," Brian shrugged nervously as both Homicide officers looked at him, "I guess am just still trying to accept what happened, I trying to work out in my own head what happened to my boy."

Roy nodded before he turned and hurried out of the office as Brian turned to Lee and began to give him his contact details.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Laying on the back seat of the car, covered by a blanket, Mike shifted uncomfortably as he wriggled his fingers and toes, trying to relieve the pins and needles in his hands and feet caused by his hands and feet being bound too tightly for a long period of time. He wasn't sure how long they had been driving or even who they were. The last thing he could remember was being forced at gunpoint by two men to walk along a rough trail away from where he had spent the morning relaxing and fishing on the riverbank just below the small secluded cabin that Eric and he had been renting for their little get away vacation. He had regained consciousness just minutes before, bound and gagged beneath the dirty blanket, the back of his head aching. He closed his eyes, battling the nausea as the darkness began to pull him under again.


	4. Chapter 4

Clutching the phone tightly against her ear, Jeannie could not stop shaking as the tears ran freely down her face, there had to be some awful mistake, it just couldn't be true! No way could she have lost both Mike and Steve from two separate accidents on the same day…no way… she couldn't have…

_"Jeannie? It's Roy Devitt."_

She jumped as she heard Roy's gentle voice and she clutched the phone tighter as she cried, "Ohh Roy, it's Mike, he's missing, they think he's drowned." The words tumbled out in a rush as she turned back towards the television screen as another newsflash flashed up on the screen showing the blackened remains of a car, Steve's car, as the news presenter's now muted voice again repeated the top story of the hour about the death of the young homicide inspector. Closing her eyes tightly to stop herself from seeing the images on the screen, she swiftly spun back around, her knuckles turning white as she held the phone tighter against her ear as she gasped, "And the news is saying Steve's …. Steve's been…." Unable to even say the word, she began to beg desperately, wanting to hear Roy tell her this was all just a bad dream and that she would wake up soon, "Oh God. Roy, please tell me it isn't true, there has to be some sort of a mistake." Dropping to her knees with the phone still held to her ear, she moaned brokenheartedly, "Ohh God, please, Roy, please tell me this is all horrible mistakes, I...I can't have lost both of them…"

 _"Jeannie… Jeannie, listen to me,"_  she heard Roy say softly in her ear,  _"I need you to try and calm down a little, can you do that for me?"_

Drawing a deep breath, she nodded her head as she managed to whisper, "Okay…" through her tightened throat.

_"Good girl, now I need you to tell me, what's happened to Mike?"_

Swallowing hard as she bit her bottom lip in an attempt to stop crying, she held the phone tighter as she forced herself to speak, "Mike's missing, Roy, they believe that he fell into the river a couple of hours ago when he was fishing," She swallowed hard again, blinking away the tears that began rolling down her checks again, "They are searching for him now but they haven't been able to find him. Oh Roy, Eric said the ranchers think that Mike has drowned in the cold water. He said the chances of Mike being able to stay conscious and get himself out of the freezing water and current is slim. They don't think that he could have saved himself."

_"Where did he go fishing?"_

"Yosemite, he and Eric Leeds rented a cabin there. Mike was so excited to catch up and spend some time with Eric and also be able to get in a bit of fishing…" Jeannie's voice trailed off.

 _"Listen Jeannie, until they find a body we have to keep the faith that Mike managed to get out of the water and is making his way back to the cabin."_  Roy told her quietly,  _"We both know that Mike's a fighter, he wouldn't give up without a fight and we shouldn't give up on him either, so until we hear something we have to believe that Mike's still alive. Do you think you can do that for Mike?"_

"I…I'll try," Jeannie whispered.

_"Good girl."_

"What about Steve, Roy, is it true what they are saying on the television about the … the accident?" Jeannie asked timidly, fearing the answer. Her chest tightened as she heard Roy hesitate before he answered.

_"We haven't identified the body yet…"_

"But it's Steve?" Jeannie asked again, already knowing the answer from tone of the older man's voice.

 _"Yeah, it was Steve."_  Roy sighed as he struggled to keep his own grief out of his voice,  _"We're just waiting for Bernie to formally identify Steve's body…"_

"Oh God," Jeannie whimpered, "How…how did it happen?"

 _"We're still investigating it but it looks like Steve was speeding and lost control of the car."_  Rudy answered softly, his heart breaking as he heard Jeannie's soft sobbing on the other end of the phone before he asked gently,  _"Jeannie, where are you?"_

Swallowing a sob, Jeannie whispered, "I'm at home, Steve…Steve and I were planning a birthday dinner for…for Mike… while he…he was away… "

_"Is there anyone with you?"_

"No."

_"Listen Jeannie, I'm going to get Sandra to come over and stay with you while I make some calls to the ranger station at Yosemite and find out what happened, I will also send Bill to give them a hand in the search."_

"There's no need to disturb Sandra…" Jeannie began, feeling guilty about disturbing Roy's wife.

_"We both know that Sandra would kill me if she found out that I never called her and left you waiting for news about Mike, alone." Roy quickly interrupted before he added softly, "And I promise as soon as I find out anything, you will be the first person I call."_

"Thanks Roy," Jeannie sniffled.

 _"And Jeannie,"_  Roy took a deep breath before he added softly,  _"I'm really sorry about Steve, I know how close you the two of you were… "_

"Thanks…" Jeanie whispered as she slowly hung up the phone, dropping the receiver back onto its cradle before she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, hugging them tight as she buried her face onto her knees and cried.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Slowly hanging up the phone after speaking with the ranger as Yosemite Park, Roy allowed the air to rush out of his lungs in one loud swoosh as he wiped the moisture from his eyes. He couldn't believe just how much of a nightmare this day had become, first losing Steve, and now Mike's disappearance and suspected drowning. Slowly forcing himself to his feet, he walked to the office door and asked Lee and Bill to come into the office. Turning, he returned to Mike's chair and sat down, rubbing his hand tiredly over his face as the two men entered the office and closed the door behind them.

"Mike's been reported missing," he told both softly, "presumed drowned."

"How? When?" Bill asked, stunned.

"He went fishing with a friend at Yosemite National Park. They believe he fell into the water while fishing, they are searching for him now but because of the extremely cold water and the high risk of hyperthermia, Jeanie has been warned to expect the worse." Roy sighed as he looked over their shoulders into the bullpen as he struggled to keep his composure. He had known Mike for almost thirty years and the thought that he had lost one, no, not one but two very good friends in just one day was tearing him apart. Forcing himself to stay in cop mode and lead by example, he looked across at Bill as he ordered, "Bill, I want you to go to Yosemite and join in the search, find out precisely what happened there today and I want you to notify me immediately when Mike's … ," he swallowed hard, blinking back the unshed tears that were burning the back of his eyes as he forced himself to continue, "when Mike is found…"

Bill swallowed hard and nodded woodenly before he turned and left the room, still shocked at the news that they had lost Both Mike and Steve.

"Do you..." Lee stopped and cleared his throat noisily as he tried to control the tremor in his voice before he continued, "Do you think there's a possibility that Mike's disappearance and Steve's deaths…"

"Might be linked." Roy finished for him before slowly nodding, "Has to be. The odds against Steve and Mike both dying accidental deaths on the same day, around the same time, hundreds of miles apart are just too great for it to be just co-incidental. I want you to start going through Mike's and Steve's cases, check out anyone who has threatened them or has recently been paroled or released."

"That's a lot of cases…" Lee frowned.

"Get some uniformed guys to help you." Roy told him.

Nodding, Lee turned before he hesitated near the door and turned back to his lieutenant who was beginning to go through the drawers in Mike's desk, "How is Jeannie taking the news?" he asked softly.

"Hard." Roy answered distractedly as he removed his keys from his pocket and unlocked the bottom drawer as he searched for anything that might explain why Mike and Steve might have been targeted. Momentarily stopping his search, he glanced back up at Lee as he up added. "I asked Sandra to go over the Mike's place to stay with her until we get can find out what has happened to Mike."

"She's at Mike's place?"

"Yeah, she said she came home for the week while Mike was away so that she and Steve could plan a birthday dinner for Mike when he…" Roy's voice trailed off as he found himself staring at a manila folder hidden at the bottom of the drawer beneath several other files, with the name 'Brian Keller' neatly written in Mike's handwriting across the front. Frowning as he looked back up at Lee, he asked, "Did Steve's father leave you an address where he is staying?"

"Yeah, he's got a room at the Fairfax. Said he's been staying there, trying to get his life on track, ever since he got out of prison."

"Has Steve ever talked about him?" Roy asked.

"No," Lee shook his head before he shrugged and quietly admitted, "I mean I knew Steve had lost his mother just after he started studying law, but when Steve never talked about his father, I guess I always assumed that he had lost his father as well."

"I guess we all did," Roy agreed before he added in what Lee knew instantly as a dismissal, "Let me know if you find anything,"

Nodding, Lee turned and left the office, closing the door behind him.

Waiting until the younger man left, Roy lifted the file, he had found, out of the drawer and placed it on the table, frowning as he opened the file containing information that it appeared Mike had secretly been collecting on his partner's father.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Slowly lifting the sheet and gently covering the charred remains of the body that he had spent most of the afternoon attempting to autopsy and formally identify, Bernie sighed as he nodded to his attendants to place the body into one of the refrigerated drawers that lined the wall. He turned and picked up the clipboard that he had placed in easy reach on a table next to the autopsy table. He paused and turned to watch as the body was gently lifted from table and placed on the gurney, he sighed again feeling like he had just failed the young Homicide inspector and the whole Homicide team but the damage from the accident and subsequent fire… there was just no possible way he could make a legal, definitive identification that the body was Steve's, no matter how much he wanted to. The best he could possibly do was a maybe … it could be… but no - it's definitely him. Looking back at the autopsy sheet he was holding in his hand, he reluctantly filled 'JOHN DOE' into the space for the victim's name before he turned and headed towards the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Stepping out onto the footpath, Brian paused as he ran a shaking hand over his hair, leaving it to rest on the back of his neck as he looked around, desperate for a drink. The lieutenant had confirmed his worst fears, the news broadcaster's speculation about the identity of the driver killed in the fiery crash had been correct. Although Steve's body had not yet been formally identified, the Homicide lieutenant left him with no doubts that driver killed in the crash was Steve. He swallowed hard, trying to force down the hot bile that crept up and burned the back of his throat, threatening to choke him … Steve was dead … and he was the reason why.

They had warned him what would happen if he double crossed them but the temptation was too great and now Steve had paid the price.

Removing his trembling hand from the back of his neck, he licked his dry lips as he spotted the small bar down the street. Turning in that direction, he took a few hesitant steps towards it before he stopped and fearfully looked around, terrified he would spot one of them sitting in a car, watching him, just waiting for their chance to pounce.

He released a shuddering breath of relief when no one around him seemed even remotely interested in him. Turning back towards the street, he hailed down a passing cab and opened the door, scrambling onto the back seat as soon as it pulled over, sliding down as low as he could. Quickly slamming the door closed behind him, he instructed the driver to take him to 287 Union Street. Turning to peek out of the back window, he began to watch for anyone who might be following as the cab pulled away from the curb.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Looking up from the file Mike had collected on Steve's father, Roy waved Bernie in as the coroner knocked on the office door. The look on Bernie's face and the fact he had brought the coroner's report personally, warned Roy that he was about to be told what he already knew in his heart but did not really want to hear confirmed officially, that the victim was Steve. "Well?" he asked hesitantly as Bernie handed him the slim manila folder before placing it, unopen on the desk as he looked up at the other man.

"There wasn't much to work with," Bernie began slowly as he sat down, "as you know, the fire was extremely intense, making it impossible to make any sort of visual identification of the body. But I can tell you cause of death was trauma sustained in the initial accident, the driver died instantly from head, chest and internal injuries when the car hit the tree. The driver's side of the car took the full impact…and if Charlie's estimates were correct about the speed of the car when it hit the tree, and I do believe Charlie's estimations are right, the driver didn't have a chance."

"But you were able to confirm that the driver was Steve?" Roy frowned as he reluctantly opened the folder.

"I'm sorry Roy, I tried…" Bernie answered softly as he watched Roy scan the report and look up at him in surprise as he continued, "but the damage to the body was just too severe."

"What about dental records? Steve's medical records? I know that he broke his arm during an arrest when he was just a rookie, maybe x-rays…?" Roy asked, his heart sinking that Bernie had not been able to identify Steve.

Bernie shook his head as he told Roy softly, "I'm sorry, but it just wasn't possible, I tried… I know the chances that it was anyone else driving Steve's car when it crashed is extremely slim but there is still that slim chance and without definite medical evidence that proves the body belongs to Steve, I just can't confirm that the body in the car was Steve...I'm sorry, I did try."

Roy nodded as he looked back down at the name 'John Doe' written in the space for the victim's name before he looked back up at the upset coroner who was watching him closely, "I know you did, Bernie, I was just hoping…"

"I know…" Bernie sighed.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Leaning against the hard support of the wall, Steve leaned his aching head back and closed his eyes, as he carefully held his throbbing arm against his chest and swallowed hard, trying to ignore the waves of nausea that had plagued him since he had regained consciousness. He wasn't sure where he was or even how long he had been here. The last memory that he had been able to drag up was leaving Sullivan's apartment after going over Sullivan's witness statement with the frightened man in preparation for the Rodrigues court case that was due to start later in the week. He had no memory of making it to his car or even how he had come to be in this small, bare, windowless room.

Hearing heavy footsteps approach the door, he unsteadily rose slowly to his feet, clutching his broken arm a little tighter against his painful ribs as the door slowly opened and an older man entered. aiming a gun at his chest as he demanded, "Who are you? Why are you…?"

"Shut your mouth, Keller, and stay right where you are before I decide that I don't really need you after all!" the man ordered coldly, aiming a gun at Steve's chest as he moved out of the doorway and a little further into the room, allowing two more men, dragging someone wrapped in a blanket between them to enter and drop the motionless body onto the hard cement floor before the three backed out slowly, slamming the door closed.

Hearing the key turn in the lock, Steve limped across as fast as he could to where the blanketed body was lying. Gritting his teeth against the pain that seemed to flare through every part of his body, he knelt down and gently lifted the blanket away. "Mike!" he gasped as he stared at his partner's pale face. Staring at the still body, he released his light hold of his own injured arm and placed his trembling fingers against Mike's cool neck, releasing a breath he had even realized he was holding as he felt the strong, regular thump against his fingertips. Gently shaking Mike's shoulder, he called softly, "Mike, Mike, can you hear me?" His heart sunk when there was no response from Mike to his soft desperate behest.

Swallowing hard as a wave of dizziness and nausea washed over him, he grabbed Mike with his uninjured arm and carefully began to drag Mike and the blanket covering his friend with him as he awkwardly crawled backwards. Easing himself down against the firm support of the wall, he gently placed Mike's head onto his lap before he tried to cover Mike back up with the blanket. Placing his good arm protectively across Mike's chest, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, allowing the darkness that hovered around the edge of his consciousness to pull him into its soft pain free cocoon of black nothingness.


	6. Chapter 6

Standing on the riverbank where Mike had disappeared, Bill stared at the fast flowing water, his heart sinking as he listened to the ranger's report of Mike's disappearance.

"Lieutenant Stone and Mr Leeds were renting the cabin just up the trail. Mr Leeds said that he left Lieutenant Stone alone for a few minutes to set up their camping chairs on the bank to do a morning of fishing while he returned to the cabin to grab some hot coffee and sandwiches. But when he returned, Lieutenant Stone was missing and it appeared that he had fallen into the river. He searched for the lieutenant for about an hour before he contacted us." The ranger shook his head as he turned his back on the river as he turned back to Bill and sighed, "The bank along this stretch of the river is being severely eroded away by debris and the higher water levels caused by the river ice melting further upstream. We believe that the erosion probably caused the bank to give way underneath Lieutenant Stone with little or no warning when he moved closer to the edge, probably while casting. With the current running as strong as it is, combined with the freezing water and the fact he was dressed in heavy jeans, boots and a thick woollen jacket, he didn't have a chance, he probably went straight under and didn't come up."

"What are the chances of us finding Mike alive?" Bill frowned as he pulled his jacket closed tighter, shivering as the icy wind blew off the water.

"Do you want the standard answer we give to friends and family or do you want me to tell you the truth?" the ranger asked softly as he began to lead Bill down the path that snaked along the bank towards one of the areas where the search parties were searching.

"The truth." Bill answered slowly as he found himself scanning the river as they walked along the water's edge.

"It's been almost eight hours since he went into the water, and even if he did manage to get out..." the ranger shrugged uncomfortably, "It's early summer, there's still snow on the ground in some areas around here, the water temp is just above freezing and the air temp struggled to even reach 51 today, then when you add in the wind chill and the fact he was wet, so even if he did manage to get himself out of the water, the chances of him still being alive…"

Bill nodded, aware that it would not have taken long for hypothermia to set in.

"Look I know that he was your lieutenant but this probably isn't a search and rescue anymore, it's probably more a search and recovery mission, that's if we can even find his body. The chances are its snagged underwater on debris in the river or washed miles downstream by now, and if he did manage to get out, the animals are coming out of hibernation, they're going to be hungry…" the ranger paused just before they reached the search party before he turned back and looked at Bill, "I'm sorry …"

Bill swallowed hard and nodded as the ranger turned and led him across to where the members of the search party were standing, studying a map before introducing him to the members of the search party.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Slapping close the file he had been reading, Roy shoved it away, sickened by some of the details he had just read before he pushed himself away from the desk and stood up, walking quickly out of the office on the pretence of grabbing himself a fresh cup of coffee. He needed a few minutes to calm down before he returned to finish reading the rest of the file Mike had been collecting on Brian Keller.

Taking a deep breath as he grabbed a mug and poured himself some coffee, he shook his head in disgust, no wonder why Mike had been checking up on his partner's father, the man was the scum of the earth. Although Brian had claimed just a few minutes ago that he loved his wife and son, from the little Roy had so far read, it was evident that he loved drinking and gambling as well as using his fists, sometimes for money when he needed to fund his drinking and gambling habits but more often on his wife and his young son.

He turned and stared at Steve's empty desk. In the two short years Mike had partnered with the younger man, they had grown extremely close, not only as partners but also as friends. In fact, Mike had become quite protective of Steve, but Roy now found himself wondering, despite how close Mike and Steve had grown, just how much Steve had told Mike about his childhood and about his father, and just how much Mike had discovered on his own.

"Roy!"

Roy jumped slightly and looked up as Norm Haseejian entered the bullpen and hurried over to the coffee table where Roy was standing, "Lee asked me to check out Steve's movements before…before the…the accident…" He shook his head as he turned and stared at the young inspector's now empty desk as he murmured, "Damn, I can't believe Steve is actually gone… Mike's going to take it…"

"Steve's movements?" Roy prodded softly when Norm fell silent, not yet willing to share about Mike's disappearance yet until they knew what had happened to their friend, and unwilling to allow anyone involved with investigating Steve's death to be distracted by their grief, they owed, not only to themselves, but to Mike, and to Steve, himself, to find out just what happened on that muddy road.

"Steve's movements," the uniformed sergeant parroted softly as he forced himself to look away from the empty desk and look back at the Homicide lieutenant who was waiting for his report, "Umm, Lee told me that when Steve left here, he was going to Sunset to go over Sullivan's witness statement with him before the court case this week. I checked with Sullivan, he told me that Steve had arranged to meet him at his apartment about ten to go over his witness statement with him before the court case this week. He said Steve arrived when he said he would and they went over the statement for about an hour before Steve left about eleven."

"Did Steve happen to mention where he was going next?" Roy asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, so I checked with headquarters, Steve did not radio in but one of the guys just told me that he passed Steve's car speeding south on Mission Street out of the city, a little after eleven."

"Why didn't he tell anyone after the accident?" Roy growled.

"He was off duty and headed home from church when he saw Steve's car speed past in the other direction." Norm rushed to explain before he added, "He didn't even know about the accident until he came on duty just a few minutes ago."

"And he's sure it was Steve's car?"

"Positive, he said although he didn't see the driver, he recognized the car and wondered where Steve was headed in such a rush without using his lights and sirens. That was the last confirmed sighting, so far, of Steve's car before the accident but I will keep checking."

"Thanks, Norm."

Norm nodded before he turned and swallowed hard, glancing again at Steve's empty desk as he walked past it, still unable to quite believe that he would never see the young man again as he left the bullpen.

After watching Norm leave, Roy slowly looked back at Steve's empty desk and frowned. Why had Steve suddenly decided to speed out of the city without radioing in and telling headquarters where he was going or why?


	7. Chapter 7

Carefully slipping the thin nail file and bobby pin into the lock, Brian frowned in concentration as he tried to stop his hands from shaking as he carefully juggled both items around in the lock until he heard the distinct click of the door unlocking. Quickly removing his tools of the trade, he opened the door and quickly slipped inside his son's apartment before swiftly closing the door behind him. Moving across to the window, he parted the curtain just enough to peer outside and reassure himself that no one had followed the cab. Allowing the curtain to fall back down into place, he released a breath of relief as he slowly turned and looked around the comfortably furnished room.

There was a small collection of framed photos sitting atop the overflowing bookcase that sat against the far wall and what appeared to be psychology and police science textbooks were laying scattered across the small coffee table in front of a comfortable looking sofa. A small sad smile tugged his lips as Brian noticed a pair of wine glasses, one glass marked with red lipstick and ice bucket that contained an open bottle of wine, sitting next to a carefully laid out blanket and several scattered pillows on the floor in front of the coffee table told him instantly that Steve had not spent his last night alone. His chest tightened as he felt his eyes begin to burn as he tried to ignore the tears that threatened to fall as he guiltily looked away.

Walking across the room, Brian leaned down and snatched up the half empty bottle of wine from the bucket, ignoring the water that dripped from it as he lifted the bottle to his lips and took a large swig of the now warm wine as he continued to explore the apartment. Stepping into the small kitchenette, he opened the small bar and bar fridge he located beneath the breakfast bench and nodded in satisfaction before he turned and opened the small pantry and fridge and stared at their contents. He smiled with relief, most importantly the bar was fully stocked, and although the pantry and fridge were not as well stocked as he would have liked, there was enough food for him to lay low for a couple of days until he could disappear.

Grabbing a tall glass and a bottle of bourbon from the bar, he poured himself a large drink, ignoring the liquid as it splashed over the glass rim onto his hand as he picked the glass up and the bottle and carried them across to the sofa and sat down. It had been a risk to go to the police station to confirm if the news reports about Steve's death were true, but he needed to know. If they had carried out their threat about killing Steve then he knew they would now be looking for him because they knew what he had done, but how?

Taking another large sip, he grimaced as the fiery liquid burned the back of his throat as he swallowed hard and as he turned and stared at the photos on the top of the bookshelf, photos of Steve and his friends, of Jenny. He froze as he noticed a photo of Steve and his partner amongst the other photographs on the top shelf of the bookcase. Lowering the glass, he still held in his hand, back down onto the coffee table, he slowly rose to his feet and walked across to the bookcase, before picking up the photo and staring at it.

Of course, … Stone! That had to be the answer! They must have seen Stone talking to him in that bar the night when Steve's interfering partner had demanded to know why he wanted to reconnect with his son and then had the audacity to try and order him to stay away from his own son. They must have thought that he had decided to double-cross them with the last person that they would have ever suspected him to join up with – Stone!

Slamming down the photo on top of the bookshelf, he turned and walked back over to the coffee table and grabbed the glass of bourbon, gulping down the contents before he grabbed the bottle and poured himself another drink. Damn it, Steve was his kid and if he decided he wanted to connect with his own son after he got out of prison, it was nobody else's business but his own!

Hell, he had supported the brat for years, it was only fair the brat supported him for a little while until he had skimmed enough money off the top of the payments he had been collecting for them to disappear and live the life that had been denied to him because of being dragged down by a wife and a kid. Lifting the glass up to his lips, he downed the contents as his temper and resentment grew. Why couldn't Stone just have kept his nose out where it wasn't wanted?

Throwing the empty glass across the room in anger, he watched it smash against the wall before he sat heavily down on the sofa and picked up the bottle, taking a large swig of its contents. Damn it, this was all Stone's fault! He had ruined everything!

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Picking up the evidence bag containing the burned remains of the clothing sent up from the morgue when Bernie began his autopsy of the body in Keller's car, Charlie opened the bag and carefully laid the small remnants of the burned and blackened material out on the table. He sighed as he carefully straightened out the heavily damaged pieces, searching for anything that might help identify the clothing's owner. It was a long shot, he knew but it was worth a try.

Using a pair of tweezer to gently move the damaged material apart, he paused as he noticed a small splash of color amid the black. Carefully picking up the small burnt edged patch of material that measured less than two inches' square with the tweezers, he held it up towards the light and studied it closely as a small smile of excitement tugged at his lips. It wasn't much but it might just be enough. Quickly grabbing a small plastic evidence bag, he carefully slid it inside, quickly sealing the bag before he turned and hurried out of the door.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Steve bit his lip in an attempt to stop himself from crying out as he felt Mike suddenly shift on his lap, jostling his injured arm, sending shards of white hot agony down to his fingertips and up through his shoulder. Swallowing hard as he tried to ignore the pain, he looked down, relieved to see Mike's confused blue eyes blinking up at him as he tried to prevent the older man from moving, fearful of just how badly Mike might be injured. "Easy Mike, don't move," he told Mike gently as he kept his good arm firmly across Mike's chest, preventing his friend from moving or sitting up, "You've been out for a couple of hours."

Mike swallowed hard and lifted his head to look around, groaning as the world around him suddenly began to spin wildly. He quickly dropped his head back down on Steve's lap and rolled onto his side.

"Mike?"

Taking a few shaky breaths as he waited for the dizziness and nausea to ease a little, Mike closed his eyes tightly as he lightly squeezed his partner's leg as he heard Steve's anxious whisper and felt his partner's comforting grip on his shoulder, supporting him as he turned his face towards the floor. "I'm…I'm okay," he breathed softly as the dizziness and nausea subsided and he opened his eyes. "Just a little dizzy." he murmured as he rolled back over onto his back and slowly sat up as Steve reluctantly and awkwardly tried to help.

Mike closed his eyes for a moment and sat as still as he could, waiting for the room to stop spinning again before he opened them and found himself staring into Steve's worried and bruised face.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Steve asked anxiously as he left his hand protectively on Mike's arm.

Mike nodded slowly as he raised his hand and felt the back of his head, wincing as his fingers lightly touched the tender spot where he had been hit. "I'm fine," he lied, forcing a small smile as he ignored the dizziness that threatened to topple him and his now churning stomach as he studied the stiff way Steve was holding himself up and the way Steve held his arm against his chest. "just a bit of a sore head, how about you?" he asked as he carefully reached for Steve's arm.

"I think my arm is broken," Steve hissed, his face draining of color as he pulled his arm away from Mike's gentle examination and cradled it tightly against his sore ribs as he added, "maybe a couple of ribs. They must have got the jump on me… I …I don't remember…"

"This was well planned, Buddy boy, they must have followed me to Yosemite and waited until I was alone up at the cabin before they grabbed me, they probably waited for the perfect opportunity to grab you as well."

Steve nodded, biting his lip as another shard of white hot pain lanced through his arm.

"Any idea where we are?" Mike asked softly as he carefully removed Steve's tie from around his neck and quickly tied both ends together, "Or why they grabbed both of us?"

"No, I was hoping you might know but I know there are at least three of them," Steve gritted his teeth as Mike gently lifted his broken arm and placed it in the makeshift sling before he shakily continued, "two of them dragged you into the room while the third kept a gun on me."

"Did you recognize any of them?"

"No." Steve shook his head again, immediately regretting it, closing his eyes as he began to describe the men. "One is blond, early 30's, blue eyes, about 6'3, 180 pounds."

"Sounds like one of the guys who grabbed me." Mike nodded before he asked, "What about the second man?"

"He's 6'1, dark hair, about the same age but muscular, like he works out a lot, about 210-220." Opening his eyes, Steve grimaced as Mike nodded and began to palpate his sore ribs. 'The other guy is smaller than the other two but definitely in charge, … 5'8, 5'9…late 30's, dark hair… brown eyes and a …"

"And a deep jagged scar running down his left cheek starting just below the eye and ending near the corner of his mouth." Mike finished for him.

"Yeah," Steve nodded slowly as he squinted at Mike in surprise, "how did you know?"

"Sam Quintin, he was one of the two men who grabbed me," Mike paused as he lightly grabbed Steve's chin and tilted his head up a little so he could check Steve's pupils as he added, "He was also your father's cellmate …"

"My father's cellmate?" Steve parroted softly, his eyes narrowing with suspicion, "How did you know that?"

"I did some checking on your father," Mike admitted quietly, relieved to see both of Steve's pupils were equal and reactive before he released Steve's chin and sat back down beside Steve as he continued, "after you told me about your father and the real reasons why you become a cop."

"Mike, I thought I told you to leave that alone…"

"I know you did, Buddy boy, but when your father started called the station looking for you after he was released…"

"He's out?" Steve's face grew paler as he began to stare at the wall on the other side of the room.

Mike nodded, "He was released two weeks ago. You didn't know?"

"No, but I guess I knew he would be getting out soon, I just didn't think it would be this early, I thought he still had a few years to serve." Steve swallowed hard as he unconsciously held his broken arm a little tighter to his chest, and for a split-second, Mike caught a glimpse of the badly beaten and frightened little boy whom he had read about so many times in the Modesto police reports he had gotten about Brian Keller. Taking a deep shuddering breath, Steve looked back at Mike and shook his head, ignoring the dizziness the small movement caused. "But I'm surprised that I haven't seen him after he tried to reach me at the station, he's probably expecting a handout."

"That's because I met up with him and warned him to stay away from you," Mike answered as he reached up and lightly squeezed Steve's tense shoulder as he added. "or else I would make sure that he would find himself back in jail so fast it would make his head swim."

"Thanks," Steve murmured as he looked back down at his lap unable to look Mike in the face, grateful for what Mike had done for him but his heart sinking as he realized that his partner now probably knew everything he had worked so hard to keep hidden from everyone about his childhood. Looking back up, acutely aware Mike was watching him carefully, Steve sighed as he looked at the closed door, "Any idea why they grabbed us?'

Mike shook his head, swallowing hard as he tasted the sour taste of bile as it rose into the back of his throat. "I was hoping you that might know."

Running a shaky hand over his head, grimacing as his hand lightly touched the large lump on the back of his head, Steve shrugged as he closed his eyes and swallowed hard. "If Quintin is involved, you can bet so is my father." Opening his eyes, he looked across at Mike as he sighed, "I'm sorry Mike, that my father decided to drag you into whatever is going on."

"It's not your fault, Steve," Mike squeezed Steve's shoulder, "So let's try getting out of here first, then we can work out what your father has gotten us into."


	8. Chapter 8

Sitting back at Mike's desk, Roy picked up and stared at the photo of Brian Keller for several minutes before tossing it back down on the table in disgust. He had found it incredibly difficult to read the file Mike had collected on his partner's father. The man may have once loved his little family but it become more and more evident that he loved gambling and drinking better.

There were multiple reports of the Modesto police attending the family home after neighbors had called them reporting the sounds of loud arguments, terrified cries and pain filled screams and the sound of smashing furniture coming from the home. Each time they arrived, Brian would reek of alcohol and tell them 'the little missus' had begun nagging him about his drinking and the argument had turned into a fight where he had thrown a chair, punched the wall or even knocked over the television rather than strike her or the brat. And far too often, the Modesto police officers would leave, satisfied with his explanation rather than ask to see either Jenny or Steve to check if they were alright.

Roy's hands crumbled the police reports he was reading, his hands curling into fists as he looked up, momentarily unable to continue reading the police reports dealing with the obvious domestic violence happening in the home, it was easier to take the word of the perpetrator rather than go through all the hassle and paperwork that came with making an arrest. *

Drawing a deep breath to calm himself, he placed the reports back down onto the file and carefully smoothed them out before he forced himself to read on. After each police visit to the home, peace appeared to reign again for several weeks in the Keller home before the next call from neighbors would send the police back again.

Chewing on his bottom lip, Roy tiredly rubbed his eyes before squinting against the harshness of the fluorescent lights that now lit up the bull pen as he wondered if the violence had really stopped during those weeks or had Steve's mother fled with Steve, only to return a few weeks later, swayed by the flowers, sweet whispers of how much Brian loved her and Steve and the broken promises that things would be better, that Brian had changed.

Picking up the thickest and what appeared to be one of the last reports on the domestic violence that appeared to be a constant occurrence in Steve's childhood, Roy froze. The police sergeant who attended the home described the horror of dealing with the aftermath of Brian's rage after he and Jenny had argued over his drinking and the fact that he had gambled and lost all the money they had to pay not only for rent, but for food for the week as well. Brian had not only beaten his wife but he had thrown his young teenage son bodily across the room and into the wall when the boy had tried to protect his mother from another beating. Steve had suffered a moderate concussion, broken ribs and severe bruising, not only to his back but to his face and arms as well and had spent the next two weeks in hospital, recovering from the vicious assault.

The hospital staff had told the officer that this was not the first-time Steve had been admitted to the hospital with suspicious injuries, his hospital file was thick with admissions to the hospital with suspicious injuries during his childhood that had always been explained away as childhood injuries by his frightened and often bruised and injured mother or his 'over-caring' father who seemed concerned that he had such a clumsy child.

No wonder why Mike was so protective of the younger man, Roy thought sadly, wishing he had known a little more of Steve's background himself, instead of learning about it now.

But it was the last time police were called to the family home after Steve's mother finally agreed to press charges for against Brian for the assaults both on Steve and herself before she moved Steve and herself out of the family home and never returned there with Steve.

Brian had pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and had apologized to his wife and son, claiming that he loved them dearly and had blamed his drinking. He swore to the judge that he would get stop drinking and gambling and make it up to his family if he was given a second chance by the court. His pleas fell on deaf ears after the judge had read Steve's hospital reports and Brian had been sentenced to one year in jail. Just one of the many times he had served time according to his rap sheet as Roy quickly glanced through the three pages of various charges ranging from drunk and disorderly, to several arrests and time served for assault with a deadly weapon, also several convictions for DUI and the final charge of gross vehicular manslaughter for the accident where he had finally killed his wife. Slowly closing the file, Roy found himself wondering why Jenny had even been in the car with him and if the accident was really an accident at all.

Roy pushed away the file in disgust as he remembered the call he had gotten from Personnel, only a few short hours ago after Brian's unexpected visit to confirm the news reports about Steve's death. According to Elaine in Personnel, Brian had gone directly to their office, inquiring about any death benefits that might come from the department to be paid to Steve's next of kin. His son's body had not even been formally identified yet and Brian was already looking for a way he could be paid Steve's life insurance and police death benefits.

He jumped in surprise as he heard a knock at the door, and looked up to see Charlie standing there, a small smile on the forensic scientist's face as Charlie tightly clutched a small evidence bag in his hand. Blinking in surprise as he glanced at his watch and realized it was now past ten, Roy briefly wondered why Charlie was still here as he waved his hand, inviting Charlie to enter.

Opening the office door, Charlie's smile grew wider as he asked, "What color shirt was Keller wearing this morning?"

"What?" Roy asked in confusion as Charlie hurried across to the desk and placed the small bag in front of him.

"What color shirt was Keller wearing when you last saw him this morning before he was involved in the accident?"

Trying to remember the tiny detail of what shirt Steve was wearing, what seemed a lifetime ago, before he had left the office to go and interview Anderson, Roy frowned as he looked up at Charlie, "His brown check stripped shirt, I think, as well as a brown tie and brown suit…"

"That's what I thought. He was wearing that when he dropped into the lab on his way out of the station, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't mistaken." Charlie grinned excitedly.

"I don't understand, what's so important of what shirt Steve was wearing?" Roy's frown deepened with confusion.

Nodding at the small plastic bag that contained a small yellow square of singed material, Charlie's grin grew, "Cause the driver of Keller's car at the time of the accident wasn't wearing a brown suit or a brown check stripped shirt, they were wearing a yellow shirt. So, unless Keller suddenly got the urge to change into a yellow shirt after leaving here and before the accident, there's a very big probability that it wasn't him driving the car."

Roy's eyebrow rose in surprise as he stared speechless at Charlie before his eyes drifted down to the small evidence bag before he looked back up at Charlie. "Are you sure?" he managed to ask softly.

"Positive," Charlie nodded as he picked up the bag and handed it across to Roy to examine, "The fire was hot and destroyed most of the body and the clothing but this piece was protected by the flames by both the body and the back of the seat. It's part of the shirt the driver was wearing and as you can see, it definitely isn't from a brown check stripped shirt, nor was there any evidence that the driver was wearing a suit. Nor could I find any evidence of Keller's police badge or gun."

Staring down at the bag in his hand, Roy smiled as he stared at the small piece of material before he looked back up at Charlie who was now grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Thanks Charlie, this is the best news I have had all day."

Charlie nodded before the grin slowly faded and he looked down at the bag containing the material before he looked back up at Roy and frowned, "But if the driver isn't Keller, then where is he?"

SOSF SOSF SOSF

*While most courts in the US were opposed to the rights of a husband to physically discipline their wives since the 1870's and wife beating was made a criminal offence in the United States in 1920, it became common for police to intervene in cases of domestic violence but arrests were rarely made. It wasn't until the women's movement in the 1970's, that wife beating gained attention and the use of the term "Domestic violence" in the modern sense for spousal abuse and violence in the home was used and domestic violence was taken more seriously, with more arrests for domestic violence being made. So, the attitude of the Modesto Police in this chapter of responding and not doing anything was the attitude of most officers of that era, thankfully now things have changed. Violence against another person, whether wife, husband, child, parent or stranger is never acceptable and should never be ignored.


	9. Chapter 9

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Picking up at the small piece of charred material in the evidence bag- that he had asked Charlie to leave with him, Roy felt a surge of hope as he stared at it, turning it over and over in his hand. Keller might still be alive! But Charlie's question nagged at him, if Steve wasn't the driver killed in the fiery crash, when where was he and what had happened to him? And was it possible that Mike's drowning could be connected to whatever was going on? He paused, holding the small plastic bag, momentarily forgotten in front of him, as the thought crossed his mind- If Steve wasn't the driver killed in the accident this morning and his death had been faked, was it possible that Mike's death had been staged as well?

Glancing down at the file Mike had collected on Steve's father, he rubbed his face as he remembered Brian's Keller's fishing expedition to discover if his son was really dead, combined with the man's visit to Personnel to find out how he could collect on Steve's life insurance and police benefits.

Looking tiredly down at his watch, he shook his head, surprised to find it was after midnight, too late to do much more tonight. Picking up the file and the small sealed evidence bag, he slipped them back into the bottom drawer of Mike's desk. He paused and stared at the file as his gut warned him whatever was going on, it somehow involved Brian Keller. Everyone else who had threatened Steve or Mike or who might want revenge against either had been very carefully checked out by Lee and the uniformed guys and all had airtight alibis. Pulling the file back out, he placed it back on the desk and opened it again before he began to re-read it, wondering if he had missed anything that might give him some sort of clue what was going on and Mike's and Steve's disappearances.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Leaning against the wall with Steve's head resting against his shoulder, Mike sighed as he glanced down at his watch, surprised to find it was a little after 6 am before he looked back up and looked around the small bare, windowless room again. The only way to escape from the room would be to charge and try and overpower their three captors when the men entered the room but neither he or Steve were in any condition to even try. The nausea and headache that had greeted him when he had regained consciousness, still plagued him and his quick examination of Steve had quickly confirmed Steve's self-diagnosis of a broken arm and several broken ribs. More worrying was the younger man's silence, Steve had fallen quiet after they had discussed their escape options before they had dozed off a few hours ago. He felt Steve shift against him before he heard the younger man wince. "Steve?"

"I'm okay," Steve lied, trying not to moan as his aching ribs protested against each breath he took. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back against the wall, trying to ignore the faint metallic taste of blood in the back of his throat as he sat up a little straighter. Even with his eyes closed, he could sense Mike watching him and he reluctantly opened his eyes again, blinking against the harsh overhead naked hanging light. He sat silently for several minutes before he carefully turned his head in Mike's direction and asked the question he dreaded finding out the answer to, "So how much did you find out?"

"About your childhood and your father?" Mike asked gently.

"Yeah," Mike heard Steve sigh softly. He had tried hard to put his father and his childhood behind him, preferring to leave the painful past in the past. It was not a place he ever wanted to visit again and the guilt of leaving his mother behind, without any protection against the man he feared and hated, when he had escaped to college tore at his heart. And now, after suffering a nightmare after dozing off during an all-night stake out with Mike, his worst fears were being realized. He had tried to brush off the nightmare as just a bad dream, but Mike had known better and had got him to open up, just a little, about his past and despite him asking Mike to leave his past in the past, he now suspected Mike probably had dug up every painful detail he could discover. Looking into Mike's compassionate eyes, Steve's heart sunk as he realized that all the haunting skeletons in his childhood closet had all come tumbling out for Mike to see.

"Well, I guess I found out enough to know why you don't want to have anything to do with your father, Buddy boy, and to warn him to stay away from you." Mike answered honestly as he felt Steve stiffen beside him before he added quietly, "And I probably have the same suspicions that you have about your mother's death and if it really was an accident."

Steve was silent for a heartbeat before he took a deep breath, unable to stop the hiss of pain from escaping from between his lips as a sharp pain lanced through his chest. Holding his ribs a little tighter, he swallowed hard and nodded. The pain he felt, each time he thought about what happened that night and how he had failed to protect her, was far more painful than any physical pain that he had or would ever endure. Clearing his throat, he quickly changed the still far too raw and painful subject, finding himself again unable to talk about it, not even to Mike, "You said that the man who grabbed you was dad's cellmate?"

Mike nodded, "Sam Quintin, he was serving time for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. He was involved in that armed robbery of the diamond exchange a few years ago."

"Wasn't that the robbery where the three robbers had the shootout with police before two of them were killed and the third escaped?"

"That's the one, Quintin got away with almost a million dollars' worth of cut and uncut diamonds. He was caught a few days later hiding out on a boat in the bay but the diamonds were never recovered."

Steve frowned, "I thought I read that he got twenty years to life."

"He did." Mike agreed.

"Then what's he doing out already? Even with parole for good behaviour, he would still have at least fifteen years to serve."

"I don't know, Buddy boy…" Mike answered before he suggested, "Maybe he escaped."

"But why grab us? It's got to have something to do with my…" Steve rubbed his hand over his head, leaving it resting on the back of his neck as he suddenly turned his head in Mike's direction, his eyes wide, "Did you say that the diamonds were never recovered?"

"Never."

"Quintin would have known when he was planning his escape that he would have to lay low and he wouldn't be able to go for the diamonds himself."

"My father must have got Quintin to trusted him to get the diamonds for him," Steve breathed, shifting uncomfortably in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure off his injured ribs, "Dad probably saw it as a chance to make some easy money and …"

"He decided to try and double-cross me."

Steve and Mike looked up in surprise, neither had heard the door open before Quintin entered the room.

"Him and your damn partner sitting next to you!" Quintin growled as he glared at Mike, his naked hatred of the older cop evident in his eyes as his two partners stepped around him, their own guns trained on the two injured men sitting against the wall. "Seems like your father and Stone have a real cosy relationship, meeting up in a small café where they thought no one would see them to discuss how to rip off my diamonds over a cup of coffee. Only, your father did not seem too happy with your partner's terms. I'm betting that maybe your partner here is a little greedy and wanted more than fifty per cent of the cut but that didn't stop your old man from teaming up with him and ripping off my diamonds."

"You're wrong, Quintin, I didn't know anything about Keller and the diamonds," Mike protested softly as he felt Steve stiffen beside him. "The only reason I met with Keller was to warn him to stay away from his son!"

"Or were you telling him to grab the diamonds and hide until you could get them and turn them into cash?" Quintin growled angrily, nodding at his two men to move forward and grab Mike as he continued to angrily rant, his gun pointed at Steve's head. "Now I want my diamonds, Stone, and you're going to take me to where you and Keller have them hidden because if you don't I'm going to blow Stevie boy's brains out all over this room."

"Wait, he doesn't know where the diamonds are," Steve protested, surprising not only Quintin but also Mike, as he squeezed Mike's arm, silently begging for Mike's co-operation and silence before he slowly struggled up onto his feet. Clutching his aching ribs with his good hand as his broken arm dangled painfully down at his side, as he stepped unsteadily in front of Mike as the three men watched him carefully. "but I do."

The two men stopped and glanced uncertainly at their boss as Steve stood protectively in front of his friend as Quintin stared at Steve and laughed, "You?"

"Think about it, why would my father need a cop to double cross to pick up the diamonds? And if he did, do you really think my father is stupid enough to approach a cop he doesn't know, especially a cop who has over thirty years on the force and is his own kid's partner, to help him steal some diamonds from you?" Steve forced a small chuckle and shook his head, his face paling from the dizziness that the small movement caused. Swaying unsteadily, he forced himself to ignore the dizziness that was threatening to topple him as he stared challengingly at Quintin and continued, "Especially when he already has a cop in his pocket to help him, a cop who has all the world believing he hates him, and when that same cop is his own kid."

"Steve!" Mike gasped, horrified as he realized what Steve was attempting to do.

Glancing back over his shoulder at Mike, aware that Quintin was watching him closely, Steve shrugged, "I'm sorry Mike, I guess you were wrong about me after all, we both know from the job that the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree." Turning back to face Quintin, Steve sighed, "Stone was telling you the truth about the reason why you saw him with my father, he really was just trying to protect me by warning dad to stay away from me. But what he didn't know was dad had already contacted me…"

"Steve, no!"

"He told me about you, the robbery and how… how you were going to escape and flee with the diamonds you had hidden before you were caught." Steve paused breathlessly and closed his eyes as he prayed hard that he wouldn't pass out as he swayed unsteadily on his feet. Taking as deep a breath as his aching ribs allowed him to, he forced himself to go on, ignoring Mike. "Dad laughed about how … stupid you were in… trusting him to get the diamonds for you …and… and how it was going to set him up… for the rest of his life."

"Steve …" Mike tried desperately again as he struggled to rise to his feet, using the wall for support as a wave of dizziness washed over him, ignoring the two guns that were turned towards him and aimed directly towards his chest.

Quintin remained silent as he eyed the young inspector sceptically, ignoring Mike's soft pleas, as Steve stepped unsteadily a little closer, "But he needed… somewhere to hide them until he could get away… and where better… than with his kid who…is a cop…" Steve swallowed hard, uncertain if he was going to be able to stay on his feet long enough to pull this off but aware that if he was going to be able to give Mike any chance of being able to get out of this mess his father had dragged them into, he needed to draw Quintin and hopefully one of his goons away. Licking his lips as he continued to ignore Mike's please, he continued, "So if you want the diamonds back then…I guess you have no choice than to believe I am telling you the truth 'cause if you believe Mike was dad's partner, you are never going to get them back." Steve waited a heartbeat as he could see Quintin think about what he had just told him before he added quietly." I have something you want and you have something I want, so why not make a trade, I'll take you to get the diamonds back… but only … only if you let Mike go… or no deal."

"Diamonds first, Keller, and then we might have a deal." Quintin growled, aiming his gun back towards Mike's chest in a silent warning that Mike was not to make any sudden moves as he nodded at his two men to grab the young inspector and take him out of the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Groaning as he rolled over, Brian slowly opened his eyes and blearily scanned the unfamiliar bedroom. It took several long seconds before he was able to think through the all-too familiar fuzziness of a hangover to remember where he was and why. Flopping back onto his back, he stared up at the ceiling as he swallowed hard and ran a hand over his face, grimacing as the small movement aggravated his headache as a small stab of guilt rippled through his soul. Steve was dead and he was the reason why.

Biting his lip, as he blinked away the tears, he had loved the kid with all his heart and Steve, at one time, had loved him but the kid didn't understand why he had to be so tough on him and his mother. He had just wanted to make a man out of the kid and teach him life was hard and unfair, that any dreams he had would be cruelly ripped away from him and crushed into the dirt. But neither Jenny or Steve had understood that sometimes he needed a drink to escape the reality that his dreams had been crushed by the responsibilities of having to support a kid and a wife. Nor did Jenny understand or even try to listen to him when he tried to explain that the next roll of the dice at the games table could land them into a world of luxury, where all their money worries would be behind them. And she wondered why she got hit…

And now, when he finally was able to make the biggest score of his life and set himself up for life, that damn cop, Stone, had ruined everything. That damn cop had not only gotten his kid killed and somehow tipped Quintin off to what he had done, making it almost impossible for him to get away the diamonds… The diamonds!

Panicking, Brain sat upright in the bed, ignoring the wave of nausea and the sickening sensation that his head was about to explode as he swung his feet off edge of the bed and lunged from the bed, tripping noisily on the empty bourbon bottle on the floor as he ran towards his discarded pile of clothes near the door. Dropping to his knees, he quickly grabbed his pants and shoved his hand into the pocket, sighing loudly with relief as he pulled the small soft clothed bag free.

Easing himself down to sit down on the carpet, his hand shook as he fumbled as he clumsily untied the knot tied in the cord that sealed the bag tight before he opened it. Carefully pouring the bag's precious contents into his other hand, he grinned in delight as the brightly shining, carefully-cut diamonds and the more rugged diamond stones tumbled into his hand.

Dropping the empty bag onto the floor, he carefully poured the diamonds from one hand to the other hand over and over again as he laughed. Stone had made it almost impossible for him to get away but the money he would get from Steve's police death benefit and Steve's life insurance, the impossible became possible. All he had to do was lay low until he got the money…

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Stepping through the doorway, Steve drew a deep breath to brace himself against the pain as he suddenly threw himself against the man beside him, slamming the man's head hard against the door frame. Turning as the man slumped, unconscious, to the floor, he lunged at the man behind him, body slamming the man to the floor. Crying out in pain as he felt his ribs shift under the hard impact and his broken arm hit the ground, he gritted his teeth and blinked hard, refusing to give up as he desperately fought, one handed, for possession of the gun.

Sitting against the wall, Mike looked up in surprise as he heard the commotion at the door and saw Quintin swing around and aim his gun at the two struggling figures on the floor near the door. Pushing off the wall, Mike sprung up and tackled Quintin around the waist, knocking him to the floor, heavily winding the much larger man as the gun was knocked from Quintin's hand and skidded across the room, out of both of their reaches.

Scrambling to his feet, he cast a quick glance towards the gun debating whether to make a try to get it but before he made a move towards it, he heard Steve cry out in pain. Turning back towards the doorway, he saw Steve was quickly losing the unfair fight as the younger man was being pummeled. Knowing Steve was risking everything in an attempt to give them their only chance for escape, Mike ran across the room to where Steve was now pinned to the ground still refusing to release his one-handed hold on the gun. Mike heard Quintin begin to struggle to his feet behind him, cursing them both and without a second thought, he raised his foot and kicked Steve's assailant as hard as he could in the head. Reaching down as the man groaned and toppled to the side beside Steve, Mike quickly snagged his partner's arm and pulled Steve roughly up onto his feet as he heard Quintin breathlessly curse them as the man climbed unsteadily to his feet and lurch towards the fallen gun.

Wrapping Steve's uninjured arm around his shoulders, Mike quickly snaked his other arm around Steve's back, staggering a little as the younger man stumbled over the third captor's motionless body in the doorway. Moving as fast as he could while keeping a tight hold around Steve's waist, Mike headed across the room towards the front door. Reaching the door, he yanked it open as gunshot reverberated through the small cabin a millisecond before he felt the wind from the bullet as it passed close to his head and lodged in the door frame beside him.

"Take another step and my next shot won't miss!" Quintin warned coldly as he stood in the other doorway, his gun aimed squarely at the middle of Mike's back.


	11. Chapter 11

Roy groaned and stretched out his arm, trying to swat off the alarm clock as its insistent ringing pulled him from his sleep. Unable to located the annoying appliance with his groping hand, he reluctantly opened his eyes to find his head resting on the file he had been reading the night before and the insistent ringing that had awoken him was Mike's phone and not his alarm clock. Sitting up, he rubbed one hand over his face, in an attempt to wipe away the lingering tendrils of sleep that still lingered as he reached for the phone before grunting, a little huskily at the caller, as he glanced around, surprised to see several inspectors already at their desks in the bullpen. "Homicide, Devlin."

_ "Roy, it's Bill." _

Straightening up as he heard his inspector's voice, preparing himself to hear the news that he did not really want to be confirmed yet, Roy snapped a little harsher than he had intended, "Bill, I was expecting you to report in last night, what have you been able to find out?"

_ "I spoke to the rangers conducting the search for Mike, they believe that Mike did slip or fall into the river while fishing after the bank beneath his feet collapsed and that this is now a search and recovery mission." _

Roy sighed, his heart sinking as he listened to Bill's report.

_ "But…" _

Clutching the phone closer to his ear, Roy asked cautiously "But what?"

_ "But I'm not so sure, Roy, I think we could be dealing with something else, I don't think whatever is going on here is just a tragic fishing accident." _

Roy felt his heart miss a beat as he frowned, "Why?"

_ "Well… the rangers believe that Mike when into the water after the bank collapsed under him as he was casting out or already had the line in the water and was reeling in a fish but after I spoke to Mike's fishing companion Eric Leeds, I'm not sure if that scenario is what happened. Eric told me that he left Mike setting up on the bank of the river while he returned to the cabin about fifty yards up the trial to make some sandwiches and some hot drinks and when he returned he found _ __ _ the chair Mike had been sitting toppled over, the fishing rod laying half in the water, and it was evident that the edge of the bank had broken. It was then when he saw Mike's fishing hat floating away in the water and he contacted the rangers after conducting his own quick search along the river bank for Mike." _ __ Roy heard Bill hesitate a moment before the younger man rushed on, _"But get this Roy, Eric said there was one thing that confused him, Mike's line had not been cast out when he had found the fishing rod. It was still wound on the reel and there was no bait on the hook at all. In fact, he said it looked like their bait in the bucket had not been touched, the filleting knife they were going to use to cut the bait up was still clean…"_

"Bit hard to fish if you don't bait the hook or cast it out." Roy mused softly.

_ "That's what I thought," _ Bill agreed, _"but there's more. Eric remembered late last night that when he left the cabin to return to where he had left Mike to set up, that he heard the sound of a car driving away at a high speed, or as fast as someone can drive on the little-used track that leads out to the three isolated cabins along that stretch of the river."_

"Did he manage to get a look at the car?"

_ "Afraid not, Roy, the cabin Mike and Eric were staying in is set well back from the track, too many trees to even see where the track is, no way anyone could see a car driving along it." _

"Okay Bill, let's treat this as an abduction. All cars have to register before entering the park, I want to know what cars registered to enter the park yesterday and left the park a few hours later and I want them checked. Also, I want any empty cabins checked, in case they decided to hide out in the park until the heat dies down."

_ "That's a lot of cars and cabins to check." _

"I know, get together with the Yosemite Police Department and with the rangers, tell them that we have the possible abduction of two San Francisco Homicide officers. That this is the only possible lead we have so far to find them."

_ "Two?" _ He heard the confusion in Bill's voice, even over the tinny sounding connection.

"Charlie believes Steve wasn't the driver of the car. Steve's missing as well." Roy told him quietly, hearing Bill's sigh of relief as he ordered gruffly, "So, get to it, have the rangers continue their search just in case we are wrong but let's go on the belief that the evidence is beginning to point that we're not. We need to find answers and find them fast, Bill, I have the feeling whatever is going on, times running out for Mike and Steve."

_ "On it, Roy!" _ Bill acknowledged the order before he hung up.

Slowly hanging up the phone, Roy sighed with a combination of relief and frustration. So, there was a very real possibility that Mike was also alive, but it left the bigger question, if Mike and Steve were both alive, who had set up this ruse and grabbed them and why?

His eyes drifted down to the open file which he had fallen asleep while reading. Brian Keller. Roy looked up and stared into the bullpen, lost in thought. The co-incidence of him showing up almost immediately after Steve's 'accident' wanting to confirm his son's death and then approaching Personnel to try and find out when he would be paid Steve's life insurance and police death benefits and the fact that Mike had been investigating the man was far too great to ignore. He had not found anything in the file, so far, that Mike had collected that he could connect with the two disappearances. Everything seemed to swirl around Steve's father. He was sure there was something he was missing but what?

Flicking the file open, he searched for the information he needed before he picked up the phone and dialed the number for the parole officer who was handling Keller's case. Maybe Keller's parole officer could tell him more about the man than the information, Mike had collected while investigating Brian Keller could.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Closing the door to his apartment, Anderson Wellings turned and stared at the door to his neighbor's apartment, he still could not believe that Steve was dead. The young cop had only been his neighbor for a couple of months but they had quickly become close friends, often sharing a beer after work, commiserating with each other about their jobs or on the odd Saturday night that Steve managed to wangle off, they would hit the nightclubs. He shook his head, still unable to believe that he would never see his friend again as he turned and began to walk down the stairs.

Reaching the shared landing, he hesitated and turned again, frowning to look up at Steve's apartment after hearing a noise coming from within. It sounded like someone was moving around the apartment.

Biting his lip, he hesitated a moment, uncertain of what to do as he stared up at the apartment before he turned and hurried back up to his own apartment to call the police to report that there was a possible intruder moving around inside Steve's apartment.


	12. Chapter 12

"Take another step and my next shot won't miss!"

Mike felt Steve freeze beside him as they heard Quintin's chilling threat to them.

Pulling his arm free of Mike's light grip, Steve suddenly turned back towards their captor.

Mike caught a glimpse of the gun Steve had been fighting for in Steve's hand as the younger man spun around to face Quintin.

Two gunshots rang out, almost simultaneously, before Steve turned and shoved Mike roughly out of the door as he breathlessly yelled 'Run'.

Glancing over his shoulder as he stumbled through the door with Steve right behind him, he saw Quintin clutching his shoulder, laying on the floor, yelling at his men to get up and grab them. With one hand pressed against the wet, burning wound in his side, Mike grabbed Steve's arm and pulled Steve back up onto his feet when Steve stumbled and almost fell as they ran towards the safety of the forest that surrounded the small wooden cabin they had been held in.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Slowly hanging up the phone, Roy stared out of the bullpen, deep in thought. Keller's probation officer had confirmed the Keller had been released from prison just two weeks before after being released on parole for good behavior.

The parole officer had told him that after Keller had followed his parole conditions to a tee on release, reporting to him immediately and settling into the halfway house where he was ordered to live as well as finding employment as a busboy in a small restaurant. After faithfully reporting to his parole officer twice a week for the last two weeks, Keller had failed to report yesterday and a quick check this morning of the halfway house and the restaurant where he worked revealed that he had not been seen at either location since yesterday, a clear violation of his parole conditions. But parole officer admitted that after hearing the news reports of the possible death of Keller's son in the fiery car accident, the P.O had decided to give the ex-con a break, after all, he was probably grieving the loss of his son and the last surviving family member that he had left.

So, Keller had disappeared after he had come to the station to confirm his son's death. Roy frowned as his suspicion grew that whatever had happened to Mike and Steve, Brian Keller was involved right up to his neck.

"Lieutenant."

He jumped in surprise as he was pulled abruptly from his thoughts and he found himself staring at Lee standing in the doorway.

"We just got a report that there is a possible break and enter into Steve's apartment. Steve's neighbor called it in, he believes the intruder is still there. Uniforms are already rolling…"

Jumping up, Roy grabbed his jacket as he headed out the door and across the bullpen as Lee followed him, ordering over his shoulder as he moved through the bullpen, "Tom, radio the responding units, tell them that they are not to move in until I get there."

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Struggling to his feet, clutching his shoulder, Quintin ignored the warm blood that trickled between his fingers as he staggered to the door, reaching it just in time to see the two cops flee into the forest with his two men following closely behind.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

"I heard the news on the radio yesterday about Steve being killed in the car accident. I just couldn't believe it, we had a couple of drinks together on Saturday night, he was telling me about a girl he was going to ask out." Anderson told Norm as Roy climbed out of the car and hurried across to join them, continuing after Norm made the introductions and asked him to go on, "But then this morning as I was leaving for work, I heard someone moving around in Steve's apartment."

"Are you sure they are still inside?" Roy asked, glancing up at the apartment that Lee had pointed out when they had arrived was Steve's.

The young man nodded as he turned and looked up towards Steve's apartment, "There's no back door and it's a pretty steep drop for anyone trying to escape from one of the back windows, and I have kept an eye out on the front but so far no one has come out, so whoever it is, they are still in there."

"Thanks." Roy gently slapped the young man on the back as he nodded at Norm to take Anderson to safety before they entered the apartment.

Waiting until Norm had moved the young man away, Roy waved across to the two other uniformed officers who were standing silently next to their patrol car for orders to join him. Turning, he quickly led Lee and the two officers cautiously up the stairs to Steve's apartment.

Standing next to the uniformed officer, on one side of Steve's apartment door, while Lee and the second officer took their position on the other side of the door, Roy listened closely, unable to hear any sound of movement coming from within the apartment. Unholstering his gun, Roy gave a single nod as a silent order for the officer to kick open the door.

The officer turned and raised his foot, kicking the door as hard as he could, causing it to crash open with a bang before rushing in, his gun ready for any confrontation as he yelled "Police!"

Quickly following the officer into the apartment, Roy looked around the empty living room, glancing at the empty bottle of bourbon sitting on the coffee table and broken glass that littered the floor next to the far wall as Lee and the second officer entered and moved across to the kitchenette, checking that the intruder had not taken refuge behind the breakfast bar. Lee silently shook his head before he and the other officer headed towards the closed bathroom door.

Moving across to the partially closed bedroom door, Roy paused a moment as he heard movement inside. Gripping his gun tighter as he looked across at the officer and pointed towards the room and raised one finger to indicate that he had heard someone inside the room. The officer nodded as Roy shoved slammed the door open, going in high as the Homicide lieutenant went in low.

Both froze in surprise, their guns aimed at Brian Keller as they watched Steve's father scramble to pick up a large assortment of uncut stones and what appeared to be cut diamonds that were scattered on the carpet around him.


	13. Chapter 13

Glancing quickly towards the man sitting alone in the integration room, Roy returned his attention back to the file he was re- reading and frowned. There was something he was missing, something that tied Keller, and the diamonds they had found him scrambling for on Steve's bedroom floor, that connected him to Mike's and Steve's disappearances. He no longer had any doubts that both men were alive. Flicking over the page, he glanced at the last entry on Keller's rap sheet – Gross Vehicle Manslaughter – for the death of his wife. Roy paused as he stared at the sheet of paper before he slowly looked back up and across at the interrogation room, staring at the man now slouched down in the chair. Of course, why didn't he think of it before? It had to be the missing link. Turning around, he hurried back into Mike's office and picked up the phone.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

"I've been waiting here for an hour!" Brian protested loudly, rising to his feet, as Roy entered the interrogation room. "You can't force me to stay here!"

"Sit down!" Roy ordered as he turned and closed the door behind him.

"I'm leaving." Brian continued belligerently, "I know my rights, you can't keep me here without any charges."

"You want me to charge you?" Roy asked, a dangerous edge to his voice as he slowly turned and walked across to the table, deliberately placing the file he was carrying onto it before placing the small brown leather sack on top. Looking back up at Brian who began to head towards the door, he nodded in agreement, "Ok, then I will charge you…"

"For _what_?" Brian demanded as he stopped his egress towards the door and turned back to the Homicide lieutenant.

"For B and E for starters.' Roy answered coldly, "And with you already on parole…"

"You can't charge me with break and enter into my own kid's apartment …" Brian protested, his face paling at the threat as he stared at Roy as the other man sat down at the table and turned his head, looking at him expectantly for him to sit down as he added. "My dead son's apartment."

"I can and I will. So, unless you want to find yourself sitting in a holding cell downstairs waiting for your ride back to jail, I would advise you to sit down right now and start answering my questions." Roy warned him softly, ignoring his play for sympathy. He watched Brian hesitate before he ordered again, "Sit down!"

Running his hand over the back of his head, Brian stared at the lieutenant for a few heartbeats as he realized the man was not bluffing. Reluctantly, he turned and walked back to his chair and slowly sat down.

"Now," Roy began firmly, in no mood for games. He needed answers and needed the answers fast as a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach warned him that whatever this man had gotten Steve and Mike dragged into, time for the two of them was running out fast. "You are going to tell me what you have gotten yourself, your son, and his partner, Lieutenant Mike Stone, into and what the hell is going on."

Slowly looking up at Roy, Brian licked his lips nervously as he shook his head, "I don't know what you are talking about."

"I'm talking about why you were hiding in your son's apartment," Picking up the soft brown pouch that lay on the table between them, Roy untied the knot before tipping the bag and emptied the precious stones onto the table. Watching the other man's face, he saw Brian's eyes greedily light up as the other man stared, mesmerized, at the shiny gems as the lieutenant continued gruffly, "And how you became in possession of almost one million dollars' worth of diamonds! And where my two missing officers, your son and his partner, Lieutenant Stone, are!"

Snapping his head up, Brian stared at Roy, "Your two missing officers? I don't know about Stone but I do know my son is laying on a slab in the morgue waiting for you cops to get your fingers out and identify him…"

"We no longer believe the body in the morgue is Steve's." Roy interrupted softly,

"Steve's alive?" Brian whispered, staring at Roy in disbelief, not quite daring to believe that Quintin had not carried out his threat.

Roy nodded, watching the other man carefully, "But missing and so is his partner, Lieutenant Stone," Removing the pen from his pocket, Roy used the tip of it to move the stones around, never taking his eyes off the other man's face as he took a calculated risk but wasting time was a luxury that Mike and Steve no longer had, as he continued, "And I think that you... and these diamonds that you stole from Quintin… are the reason why."

Biting his bottom lip, Brian remained silent but Roy saw the flash of surprise and fear in the other man's face as he began to push, " I know you love your son, even if Steve no longer believes you do. Hell, I'm a man myself, and I do understand that everything between you and Steve and his mother was done because you loved them and you just wanted the best for them. I also understand that sometimes a man has to show their wives and kids just who's Boss, even if they don't understand." Roy lied, sickened by the words that came out of his mouth but desperate to get the other man talking as fast as he could as Brian slowly looked back up at him, teary - eyed, as he pushed even harder, "but time is running out for Steve and his partner, especially if Quintin is involved in their abductions, and we both know that he is."

Staring back down at the stones, Brian swallowed hard, wishing that he had a few drinks under his belt for Dutch courage, he hated being sober and being able to feel the guilt caused by his actions as he listened as the Homicide officer outlined his own theory about what he had been involved in.

"Look, Brian, I'm going to lay my cards straight out on the table. After we found you with the diamonds, we checked your prison records and we know that Quintin was your cellmate. We also checked the robbery report from the diamond robbery that Quintin pulled and we know that these are the same diamonds he stole in the heist. And I am willing to bet that you somehow found out where he hid them and decided to take them yourself or maybe, Quintin offered you a cut if you retrieved them and brought them to him when he escaped…" Roy saw Brian freeze in his seat and draw in a deep sharp breath of surprise, before he asked softly, "That's it, isn't it? You were supposed to retrieve the diamonds for him after he escaped and as a reward, he claimed he was going to give you a share, so what was the punishment if you decided to rip him off? Was it Steve's life?" He paused and stared at the other man as Brian flinched. The horror of what the other man had risked in his greed was almost overwhelming and Roy lowered his voice in a mixture of horror and disgust as he continued, "It was, wasn't it? Quintin knew you had a son, he probably even knew that Steve was a cop and threatened you with Steve's life if you crossed him. But even knowing Steve's life was on the line, you couldn't help yourself, you got greedy and you crossed him anyway."

"It wasn't like that!" Brian protested loudly. "I did it for Steve as well, I was going to give him half of whatever I got for the diamonds. It was the least I could do for him after what I did to his mother… And I would have gotten away with it but his damn partner had to stick his nose in where it wasn't wanted and ruined everything…"

"Mike Stone?"

"Yeah, Lieutenant Mike bloody Stone!" Brian growled, spitting Mike's name out like a vile curse, his hands curling into fists on the table as he looked up at Roy, his face red with anger, "He's the reason why Quintin went after my son. He's the reason why my son is now missing, not me! He should have kept his nose out of my business! But no, he had to interfere and tell me to stay away from Steve." Watching Keller thump the desk hard with his fist, causing several of the inspectors in the bullpen to turn and look towards the integration room, Roy caught a glimpse of the temper he knew that his young missing inspector must have witnessed and been on the receiving end of for years, as Keller began to rant, "Just who did he think he was, telling me to stay away from my own kid! It's his fault that Steve was grabbed, not mine! One of Quintin's men must have seen us together in that damn cafe…Then yesterday when I heard on the news that Steve had been killed…"

"That's when you realized the Quintin had discovered you had stolen the diamonds."

Brian nodded in agreement. "I knew that Steve's death wasn't an accident and I knew that I would be next if I didn't get away."

With the pieces of the puzzle sliding quickly into place, Roy frowned, "So you after you came to me to confirm the news reports about your son's death, you went straight down to Personnel to ask about his death benefits and life insurance."

"I needed money to get away with the diamonds," Brian admitted as he looked back down at the shiny stones, "but the girl in Personnel told me it would take several days for any payments to come through and I needed somewhere to hide until it did."

"So, you decided the best place to hide was in your son's apartment?"

Brian sighed, "Yeah but what I didn't bank on was not only did the kid have a nosy partner but he had nosy neighbors as well."

"So how were you supposed to deliver the diamonds to Quintin, once you retrieved them?" Roy asked.

"Quintin was going to get in contact with me about where and when to deliver them. I guess he didn't trust me enough to tell me where he was hiding." Brian shrugged as he looked down at the diamonds before he reached across and picked one up, turning it over and over again between his fingers as he stared at it. Slowly he placed the diamond back down on the table before he looked back up at Roy and asked softly, "Do you really think there is a chance that Steve is still alive?"

Roy nodded.

"I know you probably heard all the stories from Steve about how I treated him and his mother." Brian sighed, running his hand over his head as he looked past Roy's shoulder and stared at the wall. "But as you said, he didn't understand why I had to do the things I did or why I had to hit them. I know that you probably won't believe me when I tell you that I really did love him and his mother but sometimes they made me so angry… they would disrespect me and would deliberately defy me until I snapped and hit out. But even though Steve doesn't believe me, I really did love them, I still love them…" Brian voice trailed off as he glanced down at the diamonds before he looked back up at Roy and took a deep breath and admitted, "Quintin once told me about a place he had up in the Redwood National Park, some old log cabin, hidden deep in the redwood forest, right off the trail, that not many people know about, not even some of the rangers. He said it was a place where he used to hide after a job to wait for the heat to die off." Brian shrugged as he looked back up at Roy, "Maybe that's where he's taken Steve…"

"Maybe," Roy nodded distractedly as he quickly gathered up the diamonds, dropping them back into the small bag before he grabbed the file and headed towards the door.

"Hey, what about me?" Brian yelled as he turned around in his chair and watched Roy hurry out of the room.

Pausing at the door, Roy turned back and looked at him, "If I was you, I would start praying that your greed hasn't got either Steve or Mike Stone killed and that we find both of them alive because if we don't, I personally will be arresting you with their murders and I am sure it won't be hard for me to convince the DA to seek the death penalty."


	14. Chapter 14

"Come on, they went this way!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, I'm sure!" Davids growled over his shoulder at his partner, as he leaped over a fallen tree, "Now hurry up before they get away."

"I don't know why Quintin trusted Keller in the first place," Yates puffed breathlessly as he climbed over the tree, "Even when he was in the slammer, the guy was nothing more than a no-good drunk who was only interested in what he could rip off for himself."

"I don't know why either and I ain't going to ask, but what I do know is Keller is a dead man when Quintin finds him and so are his kid and the other cop," Davids said as he paused and looked around, searching for some signs that the two wayward cops had come this way.

"Do you think the kid's really in on stealing the diamonds with his old man like he said he was or do ya think Keller teamed up with his partner?" Yates frowned.

"Look, Yates, I don't know and I don't care. All I care about is my split. But I do know if we don't find Keller's kid and his partner fast, they won't be the only ones who will end up dead. So, come on, man, stop flapping your jaw and help me find them. The boss ain't too happy that we let them got away."

"It wasn't my fault; Keller's kid took me by surprise," Yates sighed.

"Yeah, I know. The kid's got more guts and spunk in him than him than his father has ever had," Davids answered distractedly as he continued to scan the forest.

Yates sighed again as he looked around at the trees and ferns that surrounded them, "Do you think they got far, Bobby? I'm sure the boss managed to hit the older…"

Ignoring his partner's inane chattering, Bobby Davids froze as he found himself staring at several wet burgundy spots on one of the fronds of a large fern. Hurrying across, he wiped the tacky wet spots with his finger before lifting his finger closely and looking at the red stain in the dim forest light. He grinned as he suddenly took off under the undergrowth, leaping over ferns and fallen logs, leaving his surprised partner to follow, as he yelled excitedly over his shoulder, "I found blood drops, they're this way. One of them's bleedin'. They can't have gotten too far."

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Stumbling, for what felt like the hundredth time, over another tree root, Steve sunk to his knees, unable to catch his breath. He felt Mike try and lift him back to his feet and he weakly pushed the older man's hand away as he shook his head. "I…I can't, Mike, … I…I can't run anymore."

"Come on, Steve, just a little bit further." Mike softly tried to encourage him, reaching for his arm again, ignoring the pain that flared in his own side, sending white hot shards of pain through his back and down his leg as his injured muscles protested at the movement and he felt the warm sensation of blood trickling down his back. Hearing the distant sound of running feet and voices drawing closer, he grabbed Steve's arm and started to lift him up again as he whispered urgently, "Come on Buddy boy, we have to get out of here."

Drawing as deep a breath as he could into his burning chest, Steve shook his head again as he pulled his arm free, "I … I can't, Mike." he whispered breathlessly, blinking away the dark spots that danced in his vision. Pushing the gun, he still held tightly, into Mike's hand, he tried to push Mike away as he begged, "Take this and go…Get out of here… while you… still have a chance, Mike…Leave me here…"

"No way, Steve, there's no way I'm not going to leave you…" Mike protested vehemently as he again grabbed Steve's arm and pulled Steve roughly up onto his feet as he heard someone's muffled shout, "I found blood drops, they're this way!"

"Damn it, … Mike, what… are you doing?" Steve frustrated gasp ended in a choking cough as Mike wrapped his arm around his shoulder and held it tightly, refusing to let it go. Steve struggled to get free from Mike's hold. "I told you… to get…out of…here," Steve sobbed desperately as Mike's hold on him tightened.

"And I told you that I am not going to leave you behind, Buddy boy," Mike told Steve firmly. Gritting his teeth, with one hand gripping Steve's arm that was encircling his shoulders as his other hand, clutching the gun Steve had given him, wrapped around Steve's waist, supporting him and holding him up as the younger man faltered and stumbled with each step, Mike headed deeper into the thick undergrowth as the sound of voices and running footsteps from somewhere behind them drew closer.

Struggling to stay on his feet as he fought for each small breath he was able to pull into his tortured lungs, Steve gave up fighting and tried his best to keep up with Mike as they began to run again through the undergrowth.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

"Hang on Bill, he's just finished with the interrogation now." Lee told the inspector on the other end of the phone before holding up the phone down as he looked across the bullpen and waved Roy across, "Phone call for you Lieutenant, it's Tanner and he says he may have something."

Veering from heading towards Mike's office, Roy hurried across to Lee's desk and grabbed the phone, snapping a little more harshly than he intended as his anger from the interview with Keller spilled over, "What have you got for me, Bill?"

_ "Maybe our first real break in Mike's disappearance, Roy," _ Bill answered as he glanced across at the young ranger sitting across from the desk from him. _"I spoke to one of the rangers who was on duty when Mike and Leeds signed into the park, he said Mike and Leeds arrived at the park late on Saturday night and that a second car containing two men signed in a few minutes later. He remembers the men and the second car because he was on a quick shift after signing off duty at ten, Saturday night, and was back on duty at six, Sunday morning, and thought it was strange when the second car left the park heard over the radio the first reports Mike's disappearance and possible drowning shortly after seeing the second car leave the park. He remembered because he thought it was strange that the men only stayed overnight and then appeared to be in some sort of a hurry when they left the park, in so much of a hurry, Roy, that they almost caused an accident when they sped out of the park gates."_

"Have you got a description of the car and the men?"

_ "It was a light blue Rambler 1970 station wagon, California license plates- 5UMG719. I've already done a check and it was reported stolen from San Francisco about a week ago." _ Roy sighed loudly and turned back to stare at Keller who was still waiting for him to arrange someone to take him down to booking and the holding cells as Bill continued, _"But we got lucky, when the ranger described the two men who were driving the car and I recognized one of them by the description- Bobby Davids. I arrested him when I was in uniform, a real nut-job, has a rap sheet as long as your arm. I thought he was still serving his time in San Quintin but he must have gotten out. He's real trouble Roy, likes to hire himself out as an enforcer for a fee. He has convictions for assault, assault with a deadly weapon, intimidation, grand theft auto, also suspected in several hits but we have never been able to get enough evidence to pin the charges on him. So, I had a photo of Davids teletext to the ranger's station and the ranger was able to confirm that Davids was one of the men in the car. I've teletext the photo of Davids and a copy of his rap sheet to you, it should be coming through in a minute."_

"Sounds like he was in a hurry after they grabbed Mike." Roy mused.

_ "That's what I thought. I've already placed a state-wide APB out on him and the car." _

"What about the second man?"

_ "The ranger said that he didn't get a good look at him, he was in the passenger seat, but the ranger thought he could have been in his late 30's, dark hair, maybe had brown eyes and he noticed he had a scar on his left cheek starting just below the eye and ending near the corner of his mouth. Didn't recognize him but I've arranged for the ranger to work with one of the police artists from the Yosemite PD, hopefully, we will get an ID when they're done…" _

"You might not need that sketch."

_ "Why?" _

"Because it sounds like one of our suspects in Steve's disappearance- Sam Quintin. He's the link to both disappearances. I am about to send out a state-wide APB on him. I will send you a teletext photo of him, see if the ranger can confirm he was the second man in the car. Then I want you to head back to Redwood National Park, meet me at the ranger's station."

_ "Redwood? Why?" _

"We just got some information that Mike and Steve may be being held in a cabin somewhere in the park."

_ "What do you want to do about the search for Mike's body?" _

Roy paused, turning back towards Mike's office before he answered softly "Keep them searching, if this lead we have is a red herring and Mike's disappearance really was an accident and there's a chance that Mike's… if Mike is somewhere in Yosemite, I want him found."

_ "Ok, Roy," _ Bill answered as he heard the click of the call disconnecting in his ear.

Hanging up the phone as he heard the familiar chatter of keys from the teletext machine, Roy hurried across and watched as the black and white photo of the face of Quinten's partner slowly emerged. Ripping it free from the machine, he studied it silently as he waited for Davids' rap sheet to print out, before also tearing the lengthy arrest records and relevant information about Davids free from the machine. Glancing through the info as he walked back across the bullpen, Roy was not surprised to find that David's last jail incarceration was in San Quentin and he suspected most likely in the same cell block as Quintin and Keller.

Placing the grainy photo of Davids into the photocopier, Roy hit start as he found himself once again staring at the man sitting in the interrogation room, still unable to quite believe that this whole nightmare began because of his greed. No wonder why Steve never spoke about the man.

Grabbing the photocopy of the photo, Roy quickly lifted the lid of the machine and snagged the original teletext photo before he hurried into Mike's office and dropped Davids' rap sheet onto the desk. Turning, he grabbed his coat before he headed back to Lessing's desk, pausing only long enough to order, "Get a state-wide APB out on Sam Quintin, if he is spotted, I don't want him approached but he is to be followed and they are to contact me, either by radio or at ranger station at Redwood National Park."

"Will do, Lieutenant." Lee nodded as he reached for his phone.

"Also contact the rangers at the park, tell them that we have two possible kidnap victims being held in an isolated cabin in the park but tell them not to be spotted. If they see any unusual activity, I want them to hang back and just observe until I get there, I should be there in about two hours. Under no circumstances are they to tip anyone in the cabin off that the cabin is under surveillance."

"What about Keller?" Lee asked quietly as he cast a quick look towards the interrogation room.

"Book him." Roy growled angrily, glancing over his shoulder towards the interrogation room in disgust before he turned back and looked at his inspector, "Charge him with break and entering, receiving stolen goods and conspiracy to commit the murder a police officer for starters. And let him know I will personally be bringing more chargers against him when I get back, so he had better start praying I find both Steve and Mike alive and okay."

Lee nodded as Roy turned as he watched his lieutenant turn and hurry out of the bullpen before he dialled headquarters to place the APB.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Mike was unable to stop the gasp of pain as Steve stumbled and they both fell heavily to the ground. Biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from passing out, Mike forced himself back up onto his knees as he tried to keep hold of the gun. Reaching again for Steve, he tried to ignore the agonizing pain that radiated from the wound in his back, flowering out across his back and up into his shoulder, and the numbness that was beginning to spread down his leg as the voices and distinct sounds of someone crashing through the undergrowth grew louder and closer, too close.

Snagging Steve's still and silent form under the arms, he murmured, "Come on Buddy boy, just a little bit further," to the limp man as he tried to stand. He cried out in surprise, frustration and pain as his leg suddenly gave out beneath him and they crashed back down onto the ground.

"They have to be close, so shut up and keep an eye out, they can't be too far ahead!"

Lifting his head, Mike stared at the trees just behind them, his heart thumping painfully in his chest as he caught a small flash of yellow through the leaves. Time had run out, there was no time left for them to get away, even if they could run. Holding the gun tightly, Mike reached for his unconscious friend, grabbing Steve around the waist as he bodily threw himself and Steve under the thick ferns that surrounded them as he began to roll desperately trying to get them to safety and out of view. The solid ground beneath them suddenly disappeared and he found himself falling for what felt like an eternity with Steve still held tightly in his arms.


	15. Chapter 15

Sitting on the hard-narrow bunk, Brian pinched his top lip between two fingers as he stared through the bars into the empty cell next to him. He was scared of going back to prison, he was even more scared of going to death row. And if that lieutenant made good on his threats about going to the DA and asking the DA to demand the death sentence if Steve and Stone were dead, then that's where he would be headed, straight to the death house for an appointment with a needle in his arm, not the way he wanted to end his life.

And he had no doubts that if Quintin did have the brat and his partner, then all that the lieutenant was going to find was their cold dead bodies.

Hell, it was not the way he planned his life at all! He had planned to go out as a rich old man, dead from a heart attack while in bed with a young and beautiful woman. And what made this whole situation worse was the fact that he still had enough diamonds hidden away for that to happen.

But that damn cop, Stone, had ruined everything, had ruined all his dreams of living the good life, of maybe even reconciling with Steve. If only Stone had kept his nose out where it wasn't wanted, none of this would have happened.

Hearing the key turn in the barred door that separated the line of individual holding cells from the rest of the world, he turned his head and watched as the holding cell officer made his rounds, checking on each prisoner who were waiting to be bailed out to or waiting go to the court to be arraigned before he turned and walked back to the door.

Glancing up at the clock on the corridor wall across from his cell as Brian heard the familiar metal clang as the holding room cell door slam shut, a small smile tugged at his lips. The officer made his rounds every fifteen minutes like clockwork. Sitting up straight, the small smile grew into a large grin as a plan of how to get out solidified in his mind. He knew there was no way he would be able to slip out of his cell but what about a hospital room? Or a busy ER room? It was so easy, child's play, why didn't he think of it before?

A soft laugh escaped his throat as he imagined that lieutenant's face to hear he had managed to escape. It wouldn't matter then if Steve and his partner were dead because he would be free and long gone, living a life of luxury, maybe not as rich as he had hoped but rich enough to live comfortably. It was just a shame that Steve would never know what he had done.

Glancing back across at the clock, he shook his head. He had to time this right, if he did this two minutes before the guard came back then the odds of them finding him in time was at least five to one, maybe even better, and definitely worth the gamble. They would have to take him to the hospital to get him checked out and once there…

He had less than ten minutes to get prepared. Rising from the bunk, he hurried across to his cell door and tried to look down the corridor, to ensure that there were no officers around. Satisfied that the only ones currently in the holding cells was himself and the drunk, sleeping it off in the drunk tank, he turned and hurried back across to the bunk and picked up the thin blanket. Placing the edge of the blanket between his teeth, he grinded his teeth against the rough material before biting down on it with his teeth, pulling it hard, until he felt the material strain under the double assault and tear a little.

Removing it from his mouth, he paused, his ears straining in an attempt to hear any noises that would indicate the officer was returning or the drunk had awoken and saw what he was doing. The holding cells remained silent and he glanced again at the clock, he had just seven minutes to pull this off. Quickly tearing a long strip from the blanket, he quickly stepped onto the bunk and tied one end to the highest bars that he could reach. Giving the tied piece of material a quick tug, he nodded, satisfied that it would hold before he tied a noose at the other end and placed it around his neck.

Staring at the clock, he could feel the fear and the adrenaline rush he felt each time he rolled the dice as he watched the minute hand slowly tick down to the two-minute mark. Drawing a deep breath as the second hand finally hit twelve, he rubbed his hand nervously over the back of his head, praying this time the odds would finally work for him. If this worked as he planned, he would be free and a very rich man.

Taking a last deep breath, Brian stepped off the bunk and the noose tightened tightly around his neck, leaving him gasping for air as he slowly began to strangle, his feet kicking violently just inches off the ground as the world around him slowly, and painfully, faded away.


	16. Chapter 16

Slamming onto the hard-unforgiving ground knocked the breath out of him and ripped Steve from his tight hold as he continued to roll and slide uncontrollably down the steep embankment, unable to stop himself from crying out in pain as his body bounced off the large jagged rocks and unforgiving tree trunks until a large boulder stopped his tumble. Blinking back the darkness that beckoned him into its soft, pain-free embrace, he tried to ignore the pain that seemed to emanate from very part of his battered body. He tried desperately to draw air into his aching lungs as he blinked and found himself staring up through the thick ferns and underbrush that cast the light into an twilight aura. He thought he could hear muffled shouts and the sounds of snapping branches and running feet somewhere far above him.

Gritting his teeth tightly, he slowly and carefully eased himself up a little in an attempt to see where Steve was. He was unable to stop the loud gasp of pain as the small movement reignited the pain in his back, his gasp turned into an agonized groan as white hot shards of agony suddenly erupted down his leg. He grabbed the injured limb, holding it tightly as he dropped back down onto the ground, his face turned towards the ground as the beckoning darkness pulled him into its pain-free cocoon.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

“There’s another drop of blood, come on, hurry up! They can’t be too far ahead!” Bobby Davids yelled as he crashed through the underbrush, following the larger burgundy drops that stained the broken fern fronds or had splashed onto the ground. His excitement grew with the knowledge that Stone was now bleeding heavily and he doubted that Keller would be in any condition to run much further, he had broken the kid’s arm and a couple of his ribs when they had grabbed him. “Come on will ya! Hurry up!” he shouted again, looking over his shoulder a moment before the ground beneath him suddenly disappeared. “Shit!” he screamed as he found himself tumbling through the air before slamming painfully onto a narrow ledge about halfway down the steep bank that dropped down to the thick undergrowth and visible jagged rocks below.

“Damn it, Bobby,” Yates puffed heavily as he trudged wearily behind as the other man ran ahead into the undergrowth in front of him and disappeared from view, “I’m comin’ as fast as I can! Ya know I’m not as fast as you,” he complained as he pushed through the annoying fern fronds, frowning as he heard Bobby curse a heartbeat before he heard the distinct sound of falling rocks and breaking branches somewhere ahead of him and  what sounded like a solid thump and then, silence. “Bobby?” he asked softly as he froze and tried to find which way his partner had just gone. His frown grew as he took a few cautionary steps forward as he called a little louder, “Bobby?... Bobby, where are you?”

Slowing and carefully sitting up, Bobby looked up at the top of the small cliff from where he had just fallen before he looked back down towards the bottom of the small ravine into which he had almost fallen. “Shit!” he muttered again, as he rubbed the back of his neck with a trembling hand as he stared down at the rugged rocks and the thick ferns that hid, God knew what, below.

 A soft, low moan close by snapped him out of his shock and he turned and looked around the small ledge where he had landed. He noticed a limp hand poking out from the thick ferns and leaf litter that was piled high against the base of the cliff. Rising unsteadily to his feet, Bobby took a step towards the almost completely hidden body.

“Bobby, where are you? ... Bobby?”

He paused as he heard Yates’s yell and looked up towards the edge of the cliff as he yelled. “Down here, I’m down here!” A moment later he found himself staring up into Yates’s confused face as the older man stared wide-eyed down at him.

“What are you doing down there?”

“I thought I would like the view down here better than up there!” Bobby growled in annoyance, “What the Hell do you think I’m doing down here? I fell, you big Buffoon, and so did the two cops.”

“Are you sure?” Yates‘s  frown deepened as he edged closer to the edge and looked down.

“Of course, I’m sure!” Davids growled as he slowly limped across to where the cop’s body was hidden beneath the leaves, pushing the ferns apart before leaning down and pressing his fingers against the cold flesh on the side of the cop’s throat. Feeling the weak thump beneath his fingertips, he looked back up in the direction of the top of the cliff and yelled. “Keller’s down here on the ledge with me, he’s alive, but Stone must have gone right over the ledge. Now go back to the cabin and get some rope so we can get Keller up off here and back to the boss.”

“What about Stone? Shouldn’t we look for him?”

Looking back over his shoulder towards the drop just feet away, Bobby shook his head. “Why bother? He’s dead! No way he survived a fall like that!” Turning back to look up at the top of the cliff he ordered, "Now do what I told ya to do and get back to the cabin and get some rope!"


	17. Chapter 17

Bill Tanner looked up from the map the ranger was showing him as his lieutenant walked into the ranger’s station. Straightening up, he quickly made the introductions between the Chief ranger and the Homicide lieutenant, “Lieutenant, this is Ranger Holland, the chief ranger of the park. Ranger Holland, this is Lieutenant Devlin, San Francisco…”

“Homicide.” The ranger finished for him as the taller man looked up and extended his hand towards Roy as he smiled, “Just call me Tony. I understand that you believe that two of your officers may be being held against their wills in one of our old abandoned cabins in the park.”

Roy nodded, “We believe that one of the suspects involved in the two officers’ kidnappings uses an abandoned cabin in the park as his hideout. The cabin is probably hidden deep in the park, far off the main trails away from any prying eyes _.”_

 “We have several cabins that would fit that description.” Tony told Roy as he returned his attention back to the map laid out on the table and began to point out several different spots on the map as he continued, “As I was telling your inspector, we checked all of the cabins except for two out. They were empty and in no condition to be used as any type of a hideout unless your suspect likes a cabin with no windows and a collapsed roof.”

“What about the other two cabins?” Roy asked.

“Both are located in almost inaccessible areas.” the ranger pointed to two spots on the map, “I have rangers checking out this cabin, but I doubt they will find anyone.” he continued pointing to the nearest cabin, “But I thought I would wait for you to arrive before we checked out the other one. If they are hiding out with your men, I would bet that this is where they are.”

“Why?” Roy asked looking up from the map.

“It’s the one cabin in the park that only a few of us even knows it exists,” Tony answered as he glanced up at Roy. “It’s well camouflaged amongst the trees and is in an area that is not open to the public. The area is too dangerous with hidden crevices and unstable cliffs to allow hikers to go wandering around there, also the forest there is so thick in that area that if someone did go hiking and managed to get themselves lost, it would take us days to find them, if we were lucky enough to find them at all.”

“Sounds like the ideal hideout.” Roy murmured as he looked back down at the map and studying the cabin’s location before he looked back up at the ranger. “So, let’s go.”

“Thought you would say that. I have a couple of my rangers waiting outside and some spare hiking gear and boots over there. There should be some boots that will fit you.” Tony nodded as he rolled up the map before nodding towards some hiking gear on the table against the wall as he continued as his phone began to ring. “I’ll drive us as close to the cabin as I can but it’s still going to be a bit of a hike.”

“Thanks.” Roy nodded as he walked across to the table and picked up a pair of hiking boots and pulled them on as the ranger answered the phone.

“Lieutenant.”

He turned back to the ranger as the ranger held out the phone to him.

“It’s for you, an Inspector Lessing. He says it’s important.”

“Thank you,” Roy said as he walked across and accepted the phone. “What have you got for us, Lee?”

_“A hit on the APB I put out on the car. It was spotted by a Castro Valley P.D officer about 4 pm yesterday afternoon. He remembered the car because the driver seemed a little jittery when the driver noticed him looking at him. The officer said he was going to have a chat with the driver but he had to roll on an accident call before he had a chance to do a check on the plates.”_

“So, Quintin and Davids were probably headed towards Redwood park with Mike in the car.”

_“Yeah.”_ Lee agreed quietly.

“Thanks Lee, if there are any more sightings, let me know immediately,” Roy ordered.

_“Wait, Lieutenant, there’s more.”_ Something in his inspector’s voice warned Roy that he was not going to like what he was going to hear as Lee continued. _“Brian Keller was found hanging in his holding cell about an hour ago.”_

Roy cast a quick glance across at Bill who was now watching him, uncertain if he had heard Lee correctly before he asked, “Brian Keller hung himself?  How the hell did that happen? Where the hell was the officer in charge of the holding cell?”

_“Keller ripped up his blanket and tied it around the top bars in his cells before making a noose to hang himself. The officer in charge found him hanging on his rounds and cut him down. He mustn’t have been hanging for too long, they were able to revive him and take him to the hospital…”_ Lee hesitated and sighed, wishing he was not the one making the call as he added quietly, _“After he reached the ER he was taken for x-rays, he somehow managed to slip away from the accompanying officer. I have an APB out on him now.”_  

Roy’s knuckles whitened as his hold on the phone tightened as he turned his back on the other men in the room as he growled softly, “I want him found before he can tip anyone off and I want a full report of what happened on my desk by the time I get back, understood?”

“ _Understood, Sir,”_ Lee answered as he heard the phone disconnect loudly in his ear.

Turning back to the ranger, he accepted the backpack the ranger held out for him. Heading towards the door, he ignored Bill’s silent, questioning look as he ordered gruffly, “Let’s get going.”


	18. Chapter 18

Reaching down as he heard Yate’s receding footsteps from above, David’s snagged the injured cop beneath the arms and dragged him further out onto the narrow ledge, cursing as the strain of dragging the injured cop hurt the leg he had injured in the fall. Releasing his hold, he allowed the injured cop to unceremoniously drop back down to the ground as a small smile crept onto his lips as the younger man moaned in pain. He shook his head, if he had his way, he would simply toss the cop over the edge to join his dead buddy below but while the boss believed that one of the two cops knew where Keller and diamonds were, he needed to keep the cop alive. Alive, but not necessarily healthy. Drawing his foot back, he kicked the young man’s injured ribs, his smile morphing into a satisfied grin as Keller weakly cried out and rolled over onto his side, gasping for air.

Reaching down, he grabbed the front of Keller’s shirt, before rolling the young cop onto his back and yanking him up to a semi-sitting position as he ignored Steve pain-filled gasps as he looked down at Steve’s battered face and snarled, “You think you’re a smart one, don’t ya, just like your no-good father. Thought you could make a fool out of me and Yate’s and get away in front of the boss, well you couldn’t! Too bad for you that your little escape attempt didn’t work and got your partner killed, cause once I make you tell the boss what he wants to know about the diamonds, and I promise I will make you, I am going to enjoy killing you as slowly and as painfully as I can.”

“Go …to …Hell!” Steve’s barely audible, defiant breathless whisper ended in a choking cough, a small stream of blood trickled down his chin and his eyes drifted close.

“That’s precisely where ya headed, cop, to join your partner!” Davids smiled coldly, throwing Steve back down against the hard, rocky ground before rising to his feet as he heard the sound of running feet crashing through the thick undergrowth on the cliff above.

“Bobby… Bobby, are you still down there?… Bobby?” he heard his partner call a moment before he saw Yates’s red, sweaty face peer fearfully over the edge of the cliff.

“Of course, I’m still down here, ya idiot!” he growled in annoyance, “where the Hell else did you expect me to be? Did you get the rope?”

“Yeah.” Yates nodded, showing his partner the long coil of rope he held in his hand.

“Good now drop one end down to me and then wrap your end around the back of the tree to make it easier for you to haul us up.”

“Okay,” Yates called down as he allowed carefully lowered down enough rope for Davids to use to secure both himself and the cop in preparation for the trip up the steep slope to the top of the drop above before disappearing from view.

Turning back to the semi-conscious man on the ground, Davids knelt down and grabbed his shirt, yanking him upright into a sitting position before looping the rope around his chest, just beneath his arms before tying it tightly as tightly as he could, enjoying the soft hiss of pain he heard from his captive. Roughly pulling Steve up onto his feet, Davids wrapped one arm tightly around Steve’s waist as his other hand grabbed the rope before he half walked, half carried the injured cop to the cliff’s wall and looked up as he yelled, “You ready?”

“Ready!” Yates answered as he began to pull on the rope helping Davids, who was half carrying, half dragging his heavy burden, carefully climb back up to the top.

Crawling over the top of the cliff and onto solid ground, dragging the cop beside him, Davids quickly removed the rope around Steve’s chest as Yates dropped the rope he was holding and ran across to the two men as Davids slowly stood up.

“He ain’t looking too good,” Yates whispered as he looked down at the now unconscious man on the ground, staring at the ashen, bruised and scraped face and the lips tinged with blue and the small stream of blood that trickled out of the cop’s mouth.

“Tough!” Davids shrugged as he leaned down and hoisted the unconscious man up onto his feet before quickly wrapping one of Steve’s arms around his shoulder, holding it with bone bruising intensity as he started to drag Steve through the forest, back towards the cabin, “Who cares? Just as long as he lives long enough to tell us where his no good, worthless father is and where he has hidden the diamonds! Now are you going to give me a hand or are you just going to stand there?”

“Ah yeah, sorry Bobby. I’m coming.” Yates said as he ran to catch up, grabbing Steve’s other arm as he helped Davids drag the unconscious man back to where their boss was waiting for them.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Bracing one hand on the car’s interior roof above his head to stop his head hitting painfully against it again as the ranger’s jeep bounced and slid over the rough, overgrown goat track that the ranger claimed was once a small road that led down towards the isolated and largely forgotten abandoned cabin. Roy groaned as he was thrown against the door before he asked, “How much further?”

“We’re almost gone as far as we can go by car, we will have to hike in just after this bend,” the ranger answered, jerking the steering wheel hard to steer the jeep around a large tree that had fallen across the rough track before he glanced at the Homicide lieutenant sitting in the passenger seat beside him. “The cabin is still about two miles further in. When we start hiking, I want you and your officer to stay close to me and the other rangers and don’t stray off the track. The area is riddled with fern covered deep crevices and steep cliffs that you won’t know are there until you step over the edge and the forest is so thick, that it’s easy to become disoriented and lose your way just feet from the trail.”

Roy nodded as the jeep rounded the corner and any acknowledgement of the ranger’s softly spoken order about staying close was forgotten as he found himself staring at a light blue Rambler station wagon, partially hidden at the end of the road by ferns and branches that had been draped over it in an attempt to camouflage it. Climbing out of the jeep as it rocked to a stop, Roy quickly crossed to the partially hidden car as he heard the second ranger’s jeep pull up close behind him and heard the jeeps doors open and close before Bill and the rangers hurried across to join him.  Lifting away the ferns that covered the license plate, he murmured, “5UMG719.”

“Our stolen car.” Bill breathed softly as he looked around the thick forest that surrounded them.

Standing back up, Roy nodded as he looked across at Bill, “So Keller was telling me the truth when he told me about the cabin where Quintin hides out until the heat is off. Let’s hope it’s also where he’s also holding Steve and Mike.” Turning back to the lead ranger, he asked, “How long will it take us to get to the cabin on foot?”

The ranger shrugged and frowned, thinking about the question before he answered slowly, “An hour if we are careful, half an hour if we move fast.”

“We’re going to move in fast. Anything you can tell me about the cabin that might help?”

Scratching his chin, the ranger’s frown deepened. “If I remember the cabin correctly, it’s nestled in a very small clearing in the thickest part of the forest in this area. It only has one entrance, a front door that faces west, it has two windows also at the front and a small landing. I think it has just two rooms.”

“No back door or windows?”

“No,” the ranger shook his head confidently, “none.”

“Okay,” Roy nodded as he turned and looked at the other three rangers who gathered around before firmly ordered, “Once we get near the cabin, we are going to move in nice and low and slowly, I don’t want anyone to be spotted. We believe there could be two men, possibly three, one of whom is an escaped prisoner who is not going to want to return to prison, who have kidnapped and are holding two police officers against their will. These men are probably armed and dangerous and they won’t hesitate to kill their kidnap victims or anyone else who gets in their way or threatens their freedom. I don’t want anyone trying to be a hero, understood?”

“Yes, Sir,” the four rangers answered in unison.

“No one moves in until I give the order and then only after myself or Inspector Tanner has moved in.” Satisfied as the four rangers nodded their agreement and understanding of the orders, Roy ordered, “Okay, let’s get moving!”


	19. Chapter 19

 

“Of course, I’m still down here, ya idiot! Where the Hell else did you expect me to be? Did you get the rope?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, now drop one end down to me and then wrap your end around the back of the tree to make it easier for you to haul us up.”

“Okay.”

The voices from somewhere above greeted Mike as he slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying on the hard ground surrounded by ferns that cast an eerie green light around him. He blinked in confusion as he found himself staring at a small spider as it began to meticulously weave its fine web, jumping from one fern leave to the next, momentarily uncertain of where he was or even how he had gotten there.

 “You ready?”

The familiar shout from somewhere above caught his attention again and he shifted slightly in an attempt to look up through the green leaves above him. He swallowed a scream of pain that threatened to tear from his throat as the small movement reignited the agony in both  his back and leg as the memory of what had happened during the last twenty-four hours washed over him like a tsunami.

 Blinking back the tears that blurred his vision, he tried to rise slightly to see what was happening as he heard another shout from above.

“Ready!”

Through the ferns above him, Mike could only watch in horror as his limp young friend, secured by a thin looking rope was half carried, half dragged by one of their captors back up the side of the cliff before they both disappeared from sight over the top of the cliff.

“Steve!”

What was meant as a shout, slipped from his lips as a weak murmur as Mike’s head dropped back against the hard ground and his eyes closed against his will as the darkness once again pulled him back into its embrace. The crimson puddle that had formed beneath his body grew a little larger, staining the ground red.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Nearing the small clearing surrounding the cabin, Roy crouched down and began to move carefully forward as he signaled the others to do the same. Crouching even lower as they reached the edge of the underbrush, held his hand up for everyone to stop as he studied the silent cabin less than ten yards ahead of them. The door to the cabin was closed but the tell-tale smoke that rose lazily from the chimney told the Homicide lieutenant that the cabin was not deserted.

“What do you want to do?” Tony asked softly as he moved closer to Roy and peered through the underbrush.

Roy frowned as he continued to study the cabin and the clearing surrounding it. Anyone standing guard near one of the two front windows would spot anyone approaching the cabin from the front and the chances were that Steve and Mike would be killed before they would even reach the door. His frown deepened as he continued to stare at the cabin before he turned back to the head ranger and asked, “Are you sure there’s no back door?”

“Positive.” Tony tilted his head towards the log cabin, “And no way they could possibly install one without taking the chance that the back of the cabin wouldn’t collapse. You see the cabin was built about one hundred years ago, I’m surprised it has even survived this long and is still in such good condition, but when it was built, they used logs that were cut to the size of the cabin, each log the same size and the same width.” Turning back to the cabin, Roy noticed for the first time that each row of logs was indeed just one length of log, all cut to the same length as the cabin as the ranger softly continued, “Each log has been laid one on top of the other, each secured in place by notches cut about a foot from the edge of each log so each log fits together just like a piece of a puzzle. Then when they made the doors and windows, they had to build a special and fit a special frame first where the ends of the logs could be slid into securely, maintaining the integrity of the walls. If anyone started cutting a hole in the walls to try and create a window or doorway, they would run the very real risk the wall collapsing as soon as they removed that first piece of log.”

Rubbing a finger across his chin, distractedly, Roy nodded as he continued to stare at the cabin for several more seconds before he suddenly turned towards Bill and ordered, “I want you and two of the rangers to make your way around the back of the cabin and to the other side. I’ll take the other rangers to this side. I will give you five minutes to get them into position, I don’t want them moving in until after we do.  Once they are in position, I want you to get to door, but don’t get spotted. I want to take them by surprise when we enter.”

“Okay, Lieutenant,” Bill whispered before silently pointed to two of the rangers and signalling them to follow him through the underbrush towards the back of the cabin.

“Wait! Get down!”

The three men dropped silently back to the ground at Roy’s sudden, urgently whispered order as the sound of voices and footsteps grew louder from somewhere in the underbrush across the clearing before three figures emerged.

Tony heard soft angry growls from the two homicide officers beside him as they watched the limp young man in the middle who was being unceremoniously dragged back towards the cabin. Even from across the clearing, the ranger could see that the young man was seriously injured and in desperate need of medical help. “One of your guys?” he asked quietly, glancing at the Lieutenant as the cabin door opened and the three men disappeared into the cabin before the door slammed closed behind them.

Without taking his eyes off the closed cabin door, Roy gave a tense nod. “Yeah, he’s one of mine.”


	20. Chapter 20

Slamming the door closed, Quintin turned and watched his two men dragged the barely conscious man further into the room before dropping him unceremoniously to the floor. Holding his gun in the hand that he had clutched against the bloody dressing that was crudely taped over the gunshot wound in his shoulder, he glanced down at the injured man on the floor before he looked back up and glared across at Davids, “Where’s the other one?”

“Dead, fell down a deep ravine while we were chasing them,” the younger man answered distractedly as he slid his foot under Steve’s chest and roughly used it to roll the injured man over onto his back before he looked across at his boss and tried to reassure him, “No way he could have possibly survived.”

“You checked?”

“Well…no… “

“Then how do you know?” Quintin demanded.

“Christ, Sam, your shot hit him as he went out the door. The cop was bleeding like a stuck pig before he and Keller’s kid went over the edge. And we both know that ravine has to be at least fifty feet deep with rocks at the bottom.” Davids sighed in frustration, “So, no, I didn’t have to check to see if he was still alive,. There is no way he survived the fall and if he did, he will be long dead before anyone ever stumbles over his body.” Kicking Steve hard with the toe of his shoe and ignoring the injured cop’s soft, agonized gasp as Steve rolled slowly onto his side, hugging his chest tightly with his uninjured arm, gasping for breath, Davids looked across at his boss as he pleaded, “So, why don’t we hurry up and get Keller’s kid to tell us where the Hell his father has hidden the diamonds and then let’s just get the Hell out of here!”

“Bobby’s right, let’s just get the kid to tell us where the diamonds and then let’s get out of here.” Yates interrupted nervously as he turned and looked uneasily out of the windows, half- expecting to see cops and the SWAT team hiding in the undergrowth surrounding the cabin, waiting for an order to move in. Looking back Quintin, he admitted quietly, “I’ve got a real bad feeling about this place, Sam.”

Chewing on his bottom lip, a habit both Davids and Yates knew meant that Quintin was mulling over what he had just been told, Quintin looked down, staring at the injured cop lying at his feet before he slowly returned his attention to the two men and nodded, “Okay, get him up. He claimed he knew where the diamonds are, so let’s find out if he does!”

SOSF SOSF SOSF

“So, what do you want to do?” Bill asked softly, glancing at his lieutenant before returning his attention back to the cabin. The sight of Steve, beaten and barely conscious, being dragged across the small clearing haunted him.

“We’re going in now.” Roy answered firmly, his eyes never leaving the closed door of the cabin as he ordered, “So get your guys into position. Move in quietly, we don’t want to tip them off we’re here. Now get going.”

Bill nodded silently, turning to wave at the two rangers to follow him into position before, crouching as low as he could, he led the two rangers through the undergrowth, towards the rear of the small building.

Turning to look at the head ranger as Bill moved away, Roy tilted his head towards the cabin, “Ready?”

“Let’s go.” Tony answered as he nodded at the other two rangers to move out behind them before he followed Roy across the small clearing to the side of the cabin.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Slamming the barrel of his gun across the cop’s battered face, ignoring Keller’s inaudible groan as Steve’s head dropped onto his chest and he sagged down, his knees buckling beneath him despite Yates’ and Davids’ bone bruising grips on his arms, holding him upright, Quintin demanded, “Last time, Cop, you better start telling me what I want to know or else you are going to find yourself down the bottom of that ravine, right next to your buddy!” Raising the gun to strike the injured man again as Davids grabbed a handful of Steve’s hair and jerked his head back up, Quintin growled, “Where are my diamonds?”

Unable to draw in enough air to answer, Steve swallowed hard, gagging on the blood in his throat as he squinted defiantly at Quintin through his quickly swelling eyes and weakly shook his head.

“Why, you little bastard!” Quintin roared in anger, striking Steve’s face again with the barrel of the gun as hard as he could, “You’re going to tell me where the diamonds are, even if it’s the last thing you ever…”

Spinning around as the door to the cabin suddenly crashed open, Quintin stared in surprise and shock as several men rushed through the door, yelling. “Police! Drop your weapons!”

Instinct overtook his shock and he quickly brought up his gun, aiming it towards the first two officers who had entered the cabin. Cursing in anger and surprise, his finger tightened on the trigger a heartbeat before the sound of a gunshot reverberated around the small room. He looked down in surprise as he felt a sudden deep burning pain in his chest and the gun slipped from his fingers. Looking back up at the officers, his lips moved silently as he tried to speak before he tumbled, lifelessly, to the ground.

Pulling Steve’s limp body closer to him, Davids wrapped his arm tightly around Steve’s chest, using the injured officer as a human shield as he pulled his own gun from his waistband and pressed it hard against Steve’s head as he turned towards the officers and rangers rushing into the cabin. Backing back slowly so his back was securely against the wall, with Steve firmly held in front of him, Davids slowly began to edge around the wall towards the door as he ordered coldly. “If you don’t want a dead cop, then drop your guns and back off, and let us go.”

“Not going to happen, now let him go and drop your weapon,” Roy ordered, his gun steadily trained on Davids and his hostage as Tony and another ranger, slowly edged behind him and Bill before quickly moving across to the other man in the room who now stood silently watching the tense standoff, with his hands raised in surrender.

Maintaining his full attention towards Davids and his hostage, Roy tried hard not to look at Steve’s battered and swollen face or the way Steve appeared to fight for each breath he took, as he concentrated on the man holding the injured man as a human shield as Davids pulled Steve closer and took another tentative step towards the door. “Come on, Davids, don’t be stupid," Roy lowered his voice and softened his tone as he tried to get the desperate man to see reason, "I know that you’re a smart man.  Think about it, you’re surrounded, you have nowhere to go and you know that there is no way I am going to allow you to leave this cabin, especially with my man. So, why don’t you let him go and let’s end this peacefully with no one else being hurt.”

“He’s right, Bobby, it’s over,” Yates pleaded quietly as he allowed the rangers to handcuff his arms behind his back, “Both Chris and Sam are dead, and so’s the other cop. And what for? Some diamonds that we both know that we will probably never see.

You said it yourself, you don’t know if the kid or his partner was really in on ripping the diamond off with Keller. For all we know, Sam was wrong when he thought Stone was involved and maybe the kid wasn’t lying when he said he had helped his father rip off the diamonds, but then again maybe he was lying. Who knows? But Hell, Bobby, the one thing we know is Sammy was wrong with trusting Keller to retrieve the diamonds, you tried to warn him yourself, about trusting the bastard and then about grabbing the two cops in an attempt to get the diamonds back. You knew it was a stupid plan. And you were right, look where’s it’s got us.”

Gently shrugging out of the ranger’s light hold on his elbow, Yates took a small step closer to his partner, ignoring the two officers who had their guns aimed at his friend as he continued gently. “Come on Bobby, please just let the kid go and let’s just give up before anyone else gets hurt. We both know it’s over, there’s been too many deaths already for some rocks that we both know we will never see. So please, Bobby, don’t you get yourself killed for some lousy rocks as well. No diamonds are worth it, this isn’t what you really want. We both know that you’re not a killer, Bobby, so don’t do it.  Just accept it’s over. Please just let the cop go.”

Looking at Yates, Bobby sighed as a single tear trickled down his face as he pulled Steve a little closer, his gun hand trembling as the knuckle of his trigger finger began to whiten as he slowly began to squeeze the trigger. “I’m sorry, Yatesy,” he murmured, “but I don’t want to go back to jail. I won’t… I can’t…”

“Bobby, NO!” Yates yelled in horror as Roy lunged forward, attempting to knock the gun from Davids’ hand a split second before a single gunshot echoed through the small cabin.


	21. Chapter 21

Slamming Davids’ hand hard back against the wall as the gun discharged harmlessly over their heads, Roy pinned the struggling man’s arm against the solid wood, quickly removing the gun from Davids’ hand. One of the rangers pulled Steve free from Davids’ hold, allowing Bill to quickly move in to help Roy subdue the struggling man.

“It’s over, Bobby, it’s all over. Don’t make things any worse than they already are.” Yates pleaded with his friend softly as he watched Roy and Bill spin the large man around and pin him against the wall before roughly patting him down and snapping the handcuffs tightly around his wrists. “It’s not worth it… It’s over…”

Turning away from Davids, confident that Bill had the prisoner under control, Roy quickly leaned down to check Quintin. Satisfied the man was no longer a threat, he quickly grabbed Quintin’s gun from the dead man’s lax fingers before he straightened back up and looked across at Tony. Tilting his head in the direction of the closed bedroom door, he crossed quickly the room.

Nodding his understanding, Tony silently forced Yates down onto his knees and left his youngest ranger to guard the prisoner before he hurried across to join Roy.

Holding three fingers up towards Tony, Roy lowered each finger one by one as he silently counted down, before turning and kicking the door open after his last finger dropped. Entering the room, low, with his gun ready for any trouble as Tony followed him in high, Roy scanned the empty room in disappointment.

Rising to his feet, he looked slowly around the barren cold room, his heart sinking when he realized Mike was not there. His eyes settled on Steve’s torn and stained brown coat that was laying discarded next to the wall before he turned and found himself staring at the two bloodstains near the door and a small trail of blood he had not noticed before that led across the other room and out of the front door.

 A sudden flash of white-hot anger tore through Roy’s soul as he spun around on his heel and headed back out into the other room. Hurrying across to where Davids was standing, still guarded by Bill, he grabbed the handcuffed man’s shirt and slammed him hard back against the wall as he demanded, “Where’s Stone?”

“Roy!” Bill yelled, grabbing his irate lieutenant’s arms, attempting to pull him away from their suspect as the rangers watched on silently in surprise.

Shrugging loose of Bill’s hold, Roy slammed Davids as hard as he could back against the wall again, ignoring the larger man’s moan as Davids’ head bounced painfully off the rigid wood behind him as he growled, “Where is he?”

Davids shook his head and stared definitely as Roy, before he was again bodily slammed back against the wall.

“I said where is Mike Stone?” Roy demanded again with a dangerous, no-nonsense edge to his voice.  

“He’s…he’s dead.” Yates said softly, rising to his feet before taking a small step backwards as the enraged officer released Davids and slowly turned to face him. “The lieutenant’s dead…” Swallowing hard, he flinched in fear as he took another scared step back as Roy began to walk towards him as  the words tumbled out of his mouth,  “he… umm … he fell into a ravine when we were chasing them.”

“How do you know he’s dead?” Roy growled menacingly, “Did you check?”

“Umm…. No, I…I couldn’t see where he landed.” Yates stuttered, taking another small step back as he glanced at the other police officer and rangers in the room, praying silently that they would come to his assistance but they all just stood watching, “but… but Bobby told me there ain’t no way he could have survived a fall like that, not after already being shot. I mean, man, it’s a fifty foot drop down to large rocks,” his voice dropped to a whisper as he shook his head, “just ain’t no way he survived that.”

Grabbing Yates’ shoulder, Roy demanded as he shoved him towards the ranger who was standing near the front door to the cabin.  “You’re going to take me to where he fell.”

Yates’ head bounced up and down, reminding Bill of one of those new nodding head toys that seemed to be in the back window of almost every car.

Taking a few steps towards the door, Roy suddenly paused as he reached Steve. Glancing across at the ranger who was now holding Yate’s arm tightly, Roy ordered, “Wait a minute.” Before he knelt beside the ranger who was cradling Steve in his arms. Placing his hand lightly on top of Steve’s head, he studied his youngest inspector’s bruised and bloodied swollen face as he removed his white handkerchief from his pocket and used it to gently wipe away the small stream of blood that trickled from the corner of Steve’s blue tinged lips and ran down his cheek. Roy’s chest tightened as he watched the younger man struggle to take each small breath as he looked across at the ranger and softly asked. “How is he?”

Looking up at the Homicide lieutenant, the ranger shook his head. “Not good, he needs to be in a hospital and he needs to be in one fast.”

Roy nodded as he turned and towards Tony and asked, “Can we get a chopper here?”

Tony nodded, “Can get one here in fifteen minutes. They can land in a clearing about five hundred yards away.” Glancing across at one of his rangers, he cocked his head in the direction of the door and ordered, “Art, get on the radio, tell them we have an urgent medical evac and tell them that we need a chopper here fast.”

“Done, Tony,” the ranger answered as he hurried across the room and skirted around his boss before he disappeared out of the door.

“R…r…rroooyyyy?”

Jumping a little at the barely audible, wispy whisper, Roy looked back down to find Steve trying to focus on him through the small slits of his swollen eyes. Forcing a small confident smile, he lightly squeezed the younger man’s arm, “Yeah, Steve, it’s me. It’s over, we’ve got you. You’re safe, so I want you to relax, okay, don’t try to talk. There’s a chopper on the way…”

Steve weakly tried to grab Roy’s hand to get his full attention, his heart breaking as a tear slowly trickled down the side of his face, “M…mike…”

Swallowing hard as he tried to keep the confidence in his voice, Roy gently wiped away the tear before he quickly removed his coat and  placed it over his young inspector, tucking it gently around Steve in an attempt to keep him warm as he whispered, “Don’t worry about that partner of yours, I promise that we’re going to find him…”

Steve moaned as he shook his head, struggling to get the words out before the darkness that was lingering around the tenuous edge of his hold on consciousness pulled him back under. “My…fault…, Tell…tell Jeannie…I’m…I’m sorry.” he whispered breathlessly as another tear trickled down his face and his eyes slowly slid closed, “Tell her it’s…was all…my …fau…”

Squeezing Steve’s hand hard, Roy’s jaw tightened as he tried to push away the anger he felt towards the man who was truly responsible for what his two friends had endured as he looked down at his now unconscious inspector and whispered, “None of this was your fault, Steve, we are going to find Mike. And we both know what a stubborn old goat, Mike can be. He’s a fighter, and he’s not going to give up on us and we’re not going to give up on him, I promise.”

Slowly rising to his feet, Roy walked across to Yates, grabbing the frightened man’s arm hard as he began to force him to walk towards the front door.  Glancing at Bill as they passed the Homicide inspector who was still holding David’s arm tightly to prevent the man from going anywhere, Roy ordered, “Bill I want you to stay here with Steve. I will leave you two rangers to help you guard Davids until we get back. If Davids moves or tries to cause any trouble, shoot him!”

“Will do!” Bill replied, his grip on the other man's arm tightening as Yates led Roy, Tony and one of the rangers out of the cabin and across the clearing, towards the woods.


	22. Chapter 22

“How much further?” Roy demanded impatiently as Yates awkwardly climb over a large fallen tree before he placed his own hand on top of the log and leapt easily across.

“Not much further… I think,” Yates panted breathlessly, pausing as he rubbed his wrists, relieved to have the handcuffs removed under the dire warning of what would happen if he tried to escape. Frowning, he looked around, trying to get his bearings before he tilted his head towards a barely noticeable trail of crushed ferns, “That way, about sixty, maybe seventy feet.” Watching as Roy brushed past, he lightly grabbed the San Francisco Homicide lieutenant’s arm as he warned softly, “Be careful, you can’t see the edge of the ravine, the ferns and trees grow right up to the edge and you won’t see it until it’s too late.”

Roy gave a single, grim nod before he rushed ahead, followed closely by Tony while the other ranger firmly grabbed Yates’ arm and hurried him along.

Hurrying to catch up with Roy, Tony placed his hand lightly on the other man’s shoulder. “See the blood drops?” he asked softly as he tilted his head towards the leaves of some of the broken ferns they were pushing through.

Roy nodded and pointed down at several burgundy spots on the ground that led in the direction they were headed, “There’s a blood trail along the ground as well. Yates said back in the cabin that Mike was shot, looks like he was losing a lot of blood.”

“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Tony said softly, his grip on Roy’s shoulder tightening as he forced the lieutenant to stop and face him before he warned Roy softly, “but there is a very real chance that we aren’t going to find him alive.”

Swallowing hard, Roy rubbed a hand over his face, his hand resting on his chin as he nodded slowly, “I know.”

“Just wanted to make sure.” Tony smiled weakly, his sympathy evident on his face as he turned and began walking again, separating the ferns in front of him as he cautiously moved in the direction of the ravine that Yates had claimed the Homicide lieutenant had fallen into, frowning as he glanced at a piece of rope wrapped around the base of the tree he was just passing.

“Careful, you’re almost near the edge.” Yates called out nervously as he slowly followed the two men ahead of him.

“Whoa!” Tony gasped, reaching out his arm instinctively to stop Roy from taking another step, as he separated the damaged ferns in front of him and found himself staring down into the deep ravine.

“I told you. We didn’t see it either until Bobby fell down it. Luckily, Bobby landed on the ledge that Keller’s kid landed on when he and the lieutenant fell.” Yates said quietly behind them as he shook his head. “But the lieutenant, he musta fallen the whole way down.”

“Can you see him?” Roy asked Tony, ignoring the chattering man behind them as he tried to peer down into the underbrush and shadows cast by the large rocks fifty feet below them.

“Not yet, but if he fell from…” Tony frowned as he stared down at the rocky ground beneath him before he stopped and pointed, “Wait a minute, what’s that?”

“What?” Roy frowned, squinting in an attempt to see what the ranger was pointing at.

“In the ferns,” Tony said, pointing at a spot directly below the small ledge below them, “See the splash of red?”

“I…I think so,” Roy nodded as he squinted harder at the small red patch that was barely visible among the green leaves and large white rocks.

“It has to be him,” Tony announced as he turned and hurried across to the tree where he had seen the rope as he said over his shoulder, “it’s got to be his shirt.”

“Are you sure?” Roy asked doubtfully, staring down into the ravine before he turned and followed the ranger.

“Positive.” Tony answered as he secured the rope to the tree, and tugged it to ensure that the knot would hold before he began to unwind it as he walked back to the edge of the cliff. “It’s the only thing it can be.” he added as he dropped the rope over the edge.

“That’s good enough for me!” Roy nodded as he hurried across to where Yates stood watching. Removing the handcuffs he had placed through the back of his belt, he grabbed Yates’s arm, snapping one of the cuffs around Yates's wrist before pulling the man towards the nearest tree.

“Hey,” Yates protested in surprise as Roy grabbed his other hand and pulled it around the tree before handcuffing it, leaving him hugging the tree, “what are you doing?”

“Making sure that you don’t decide to go anywhere while we go and check on the condition of my officer.” Roy growled before he turned and hurried across to join Tony and the other ranger at the edge of the cliff as Tony prepared to climb down into the ravine using the rope.

Looking across at the older man as Roy unbuttoned and rolled up his sleeves, Tony frowned in confusion. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“That’s a pretty stupid question,” Roy snapped as he picked up the rope, “I’m going down with you.”

“Oh no, you’re not,” the ranger shook his head firmly, “it’s too dangerous.”

“Oh, yes I am,” Roy answered firmly, as he looked at the younger man, challengingly, “that’s my officer and one of my closest friends down there and I am not going to stay up here and wait for you to climb down to tell me if he’s alive or not. Now, do you want to lead the way, or shall I?”

Sighing at the stubborn San Francisco police officer, Tony could only shake his head in frustration before he glanced across at his junior ranger and ordered, “Pete, keep a firm hold on the rope and keep a close eye on our descent. I want you to watch for any loose rocks and debris.”

“Will do, boss,” the young ranger answered before spitting into the palms of his hands and taking hold of the rope.  

Turning back to Roy, Tony asked, “Ready?”

“Ready.” Roy nodded as he followed Tony to the edge of the cliff.

“I’ll go down first and then I want you to follow after I reach the bottom. Take it nice and slow and try to take the same route down that I take, understood?”

“Understood,” Roy agreed.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Stepping onto the rocky uneven ground, Roy could feel a burning sensation in both his arms as his muscles protested about the strain he had placed on them as he had climbed down the rope. Dropping the rope, he turned and ran across the rough jagged, slippery rocks to the thick patch of ferns in which they had spotted the patch of red from the top of the cliff that now towered above them.

Pushing apart the ferns, he froze as he found himself staring down at Mike’s bloody and broken body. The white rocks and sandy ground beneath and around his injured friend was stained red with blood and Mike’s leg was bent at what looked like an extremely painful and a very unnatural angle.

“Found him.” Roy announced softly, his voice cracking as he carefully knelt down beside his friend and placed his trembling fingertips gently against the side of Mike’s cool neck as he prayed for a miracle. It took several long seconds before he felt a faint, slow thump beneath his fingertips. “He’s alive.” Roy breathed softly before he looked up at Tony and laughed with relief, “He’s alive!” he said more loudly, unable to quite believe the words that were coming out of his own mouth.


	23. Chapter 23

 

“He’s alive!” Tony called up to the ranger peering over the edge of the cliff above them. “Art, I want you to go back to the cabin, the helicopter should be landing about now. Tell them we have a second victim, he’s suffering from a possible gunshot wound to the back, a broken leg and possible head, back and internal injuries. We’re going to need a back board and a rescue stretcher.” Glancing back down at the unconscious man on the ground before he looked back up at his ranger, Tony added, “Pete, you better tell the Doc I think we’re going to need him as well.”

“Will do Tony,” the younger man called down before he turned to leave. Seeing the man still handcuffed around the tree, he hesitated and turned back to the edge of the cliff, “What about our prisoner? What should I do with him?” he called down.

Looking across at Roy, Tony asked softly, “What do you want to do with him?”

Looking up from his injured friend, Roy growled, “Leave him where he is, it’s not like he can go anywhere.”

Nodding, Tony glanced back up at Pete as he called, “Just leave him handcuffed to the tree.” He saw his ranger wave his acknowledgment of the order before disappearing from sight.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Kneeling beside his unconscious, injured colleague, holding Steve’s hand as he silently willed Steve to take each hard fought for breath, Bill jumped and spun around as the door opened and Art led the rescue helicopter’s crew, who were carrying a metal wire stretcher, loaded with medical equipment between them, into the cabin. Quickly rising to his feet, Bill moved out of their way as the men placed their equipment on the floor and hurried across to their patient. Stepping next to Davids, who was now sitting sullenly against the wall with his hands cuffed tightly behind his back, Bill watched silently, feeling helpless, as the rescue crew dropped to their knees around their patient as they immediately began to examine Steve, each performing a different task.

“BP’s low, 80/50,” murmured one of the medics as the blood pressure cuff he had placed around Steve’s arm deflated and he removed the stethoscope from his ears, leaving the stethoscope dangling around his neck, before placing his fingertips against Steve’s neck and began to silently count. “Pulse 126, breathing is shallow, he’s cyanotic,” he added softly as he reached behind him for the oxygen bottle and oxygen mask, slipping the mask over Steve’s mouth and nose before he turned the

“His right arm’s broken,” the second rescue crew medic announced quietly as he gently rolled Steve’s head to the side, being careful not to dislodge the oxygen mask as he continued his examination, “there’s also fluid and blood in his left ear canal.”

The doctor nodded distractedly as he unbuttoned the torn remains of Steve’s shirt, wincing at the dark bruises that marred the right side of the young man’s chest before glancing down at the young man’s distended stomach. He frowned as he watched only one side of Steve’s chest rise and fall as he quickly slipped the ear pieces of his stethoscope into his ears and placed the chestpiece against Steve’s chest. His frown deepened as he moved the chestpiece to several different areas of Steve’s chest and listened intently. Removing the stethoscope earpieces from his ears, the doctor sighed, “There’s no breath sounds on the right side.”

“Traumatic pneumothorax?” the medic asked.

The doctor nodded, “Probably caused by a broken rib, he’s taken a real beating.” Glancing across at his senior medic, he ordered, “Let’s start him off with a saline drip.”  

The medic nodded and turned reaching into one of the medical bags, withdrawing a bag of saline and the tubing he needed before he began to set up the ordered drip.

Reaching across into the medical bag, the doctor grabbed a 50 cc syringe and a large gauge needle, as he announced over his shoulder, “We’re going to have to remove some of the trapped air to stabilize him a little before we wrap and run.” Quickly attaching the thick needle to the large syringe, as he turned back to his patient, glancing quickly at his youngest member of the retrieval team, he softly instructed, “Okay, I need you to sterilize the intercostal space between the fifth and six ribs and carefully move his arm out of the way.”

Bill swallowed hard, tasting the hot bile that rose in the back of his throat as he watched the young medic swipe Steve's chest with a sterilization wipe. before the doctor skilfully inserted the needle deep into the side of Steve’s chest and began to slowly pull the plunger back, filling the syringe with what looked like frothy red bubbles before removing the filled syringe and repeating the procedure with a new large syringe and needle.

Satisfied that he had removed enough trapped air to give his patient a small fighting chance to reach the hospital for desperately needed treatment, the doctor removed the needle and quickly covered the small needle site with a sterile dressing as he listened to his senior medic rattle off a new, slightly stronger set of obs. Nodding his relief, he ordered, “Okay, let’s wrap and run before he decides to crash on us.”

Stepping across to help as the medics turned and pulled the stretcher closer, Bill asked, “How is he, Doc?”

“Critical.” the doctor answered a little harsher than he meant to, as he waited for the medic to spread the blanket over the stretcher to make the wire more comfortable for his critically ill patient. Looking up at the upset police officer, he softened his tone, “But he has a fighting chance if we can get him to San Francisco General.”

Swallowing hard, Bill could only nod as he leaned down and helped to lift Steve carefully across to the stretcher, wishing that he could accompany Steve to the hospital instead of babysitting Davids, while the Lieutenant searched for Mike. Stepping back, he sighed as he watched the medic cover Steve with a blanket before placing the oxygen cylinder into the stretcher.

Leaning down to help pick up the stretcher, the doctor looked up in surprise as another ranger appeared in the doorway and announced breathlessly. “We found him. We found the lieutenant.”

“Is he alive?” Bill asked anxiously as he took a small step towards the excited ranger.

“Yeah, he’s alive but he’s in real rough shape. He’s fallen into a ravine. We’re going to need a back board and a rescue stretcher. Tony says he’s got a possible gunshot wound to the back, a broken leg and possible head, back and internal injuries” Looking at the doctor, the ranger added, “And Tony said we’re going to need you too, Doc.”

Pausing, the senior medic looked across at the doctor as he asked, “Do you want us to wait, Matt?”

Glancing down at his critically ill patient, the doctor shook his head. “No, he can’t wait, if he’s going to have any chance he needs to get to a hospital now.” Looking back up at his two companions, the doctor softly ordered, “So let’s grab the other rescue stretcher and everything I’m going to need with this rescue. I want you two to medivac the inspector back to San Francisco General and then come straight back. Hopefully, by the time you get back, we should have retrieved the other victim and we should have him stabilized enough to be flown straight out.” Turning back to the young ranger standing expectantly at the door, the doctor ordered, “I need you to help us carry the inspector back to the helicopter and then help me take what we need to where the lieutenant is.”


	24. Chapter 24

Tucking Tony’s jacket a little tighter around his unconscious friend body, Roy sighed in frustration as he glanced towards the top of the ravine, “Where are they?”

“They’ll get here, just give them a little time,” Tony told him softly as he reached across and lightly squeezed the older man’s tense shoulder before he looked up at the edge of the cliff as he heard someone call his name.

“Tony?”

“See, told you that they wouldn’t be long.” Tony smiled at Roy as he rose to his feet and walked across the rocky ground to the base of the ravine. “I’m here,” he called back up as he saw Pete’s head appear over the edge of the cliff above before he saw the young ranger toss down the end of a rope.

“The doc’s going to rappel down to you and then we will send down the rest of the gear.” Pete called down a heartbeat before another figure, dressed in what Roy believed to be some sort of a flight suit, appeared at the edge of the cliff with his back facing the ravine.

Roy watched, still by Mike’s side, as the doctor confidently stepped off the cliff’s edge and began a controlled descent down to the bottom before landing lightly on his feet next to the head ranger.

Quickly, hurrying across to where a second rope had been dropped, the doctor grabbed the end of it and began to help steer the wire rescue basket and the medical gear as it was carefully lowered down. Glancing across at Tony as the ranger watched for any rocks or branches that the basket might become snagged on, the doctor asked, “What have we got?”

“Possible gunshot wound to the back, compound fracture of the leg,” Tony answered as the basket reached them. Quickly untying it from the rope before they both picked it up and headed across to the injured man, Tony continued softly. “Plus, severe blood loss, possible head and back injuries and who knows what sort of internal injuries he might have, I have no idea how he managed to even survive the fall.”

The doctor nodded grimly as they reached the injured man, and the San Francisco police officer who was kneeling beside him, before they placed the equipment they were carrying onto the ground close by.

“How’s the inspector?” Tony asked as the doctor crouched down next to Roy.

“Critical,” the doctor answered distractedly as he began to examine Mike, “He’s too critical to wait until we can get his Lieutenant here stabilized and back to the cabin. They’re flying him back to San Francisco General for urgent medical treatment as we speak.” Looking sympathetically sideways towards Roy, he added, “As soon as our guys deliver your young inspector to the hospital, they will be back to airlift our friend here to the San Francisco General as well. I hope you don’t mind. Lieutenant, but after Art told me about the circumstances surrounding this rescue, I asked my guys to contact your Homicide department in San Francisco and let them know your boys have been found and are on their way home. I thought you might like their families to be informed, so they can be at the hospital waiting for them.”

Roy nodded, his eyes never leaving Mike’s face as he murmured, “Thanks, Doc.”

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Mike felt cold, so cold that he wondered if he would even be warm again, as the pain that had robbed him of his consciousness now was making itself known again and the darkness that had held him in its warm embrace slowly faded away.

He slowly became aware of voices, close by before something hard and rigid was gently placed around his neck. He jumped as he felt a sudden, unexpected, short sharp sting in the back of his hand before a warm sensation slowly began to travel up his arm.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

He pondered lazily over just what the soft unfamiliar voice, from somewhere close by, had meant before he felt the unmistakable sensation of someone lifting his injured leg, sending shard of pain shooting through his body. Trying desperately to grab his leg to stop anyone moving it again, he cried out in agony as the gunshot wound in his back also made itself known, leaving him feeling breathless and nauseous.

Strong, firm hands grabbed his shoulders, gently pushing him back down as he heard a familiar voice murmur close to his ear, “Easy, Mike, easy, you’re safe. We’ve got you! The doc has to splint your leg before we can get you into the stretcher and get you out of here.”

Forcing his heavy eyelids open, Mike could only groan as he found himself looking up at the dark outline of a blurry head hovering above him. Swallowing hard, he grimaced as what little saliva he had had in his mouth felt like razor blades as it slid down the back of his throat before he managed to whisper weakly, “Roy?”

 He felt his friend reassuringly squeeze his shoulder before he felt himself rolled onto his side.

“Yeah, Mike, it’s me.” Roy nodded and forced a small smile as he watched the medic lift Mike’s shirt, revealing the bullet wound quickly examine the bullet wound in the middle of Mike’s back before the doctor shook his head and quickly grabbed a dressing, from the backpack next to him, and taped it tightly over the wound. “Hell of a way to end a fishing trip, isn’t it?” Roy teased Mike as he watched the doctor turn and pick up the hard back board before sliding it behind Mike’s back. Carefully rolling Mike back onto the board, Roy grabbed one of the straps as he helped Tony and the doctor strap Mike down to the hard board beneath him, to prevent the injured man from moving.

 “Roy, we’re need to lift him into the stretcher now.”

Mike tried to focus on at the tall figure who suddenly drifted into Mike’s limited view as the man patted Roy’s shoulder before disappearing again as Roy nodded and began to rise to his feet.

Panicking, Mike grabbed Roy’s sleeve with the tips of his fingers as he whispered desperately, “Roy… Steve…”

“He’s safe, Mike,” Roy paused as he grabbed Mike’s hand and tried to reassure his upset and worried friend, not surprised Mike’s first concern was for his partner, before he added truthfully, “he’s not in the best shape but he’s alive. He’s on his way to San Francisco General. You will see him there, soon, I promise.”

Mike released a soft sigh of relief as his eyes drifted close as Roy's reassurance that Steve was alive echoed in his mind.

Swallowing hard as he watched Mike’s eyes drift close, Roy squeezed his hand again as he surreptitiously tried to brush away a tear, “You’re both alive…”

Stepping closer, Tony placed his arm on Roy’s shoulder, “Roy, we really need to get him into the stretcher and to a hospital.”

Swallowing hard, not trusting his voice to answer, Roy nodded as he stood up and quickly helped to lift the backboard Mike was strapped tightly to carefully into the wire basket stretcher before helping the medic and Tony secure Mike into the stretcher for the journey back up the cliff.  Satisfied his patient was secure, the doctor stood up and looked across at the other two men as he ordered softly, “Okay, let’s get him out of here!”

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Sitting across from Jeannie at the small dining table, Sandra Devitt took a small sip of tea and watched, over the rim of her mug, Jeannie push the food around on her plate with disinterest.  Sandra inwardly sighed as she took another sip of her tea, knowing there was little she could say that would or could ease Jeannie’s grief, all she could do was be with Jeannie while they waited for some news, any news about Mike and be there for her when the news came.

Sandra could hardly imagine how hard it had been for Jeannie to lose her mother at such a tender age, but to lose both her father and his partner, a young man she knew both Jeannie and Mike had both come to regard not only as their closest friend but a member of their small family, on the same day, only hours apart had to be soul crushing.

Roy had promised to let her know as soon as they found Mike’s… She shook her head…  as soon as they found Mike, she corrected herself, refusing to give up the small sliver of hope that Mike was still alive. She needed to keep that hope alive, not only for herself but for Jeannie as well. There would be time enough for grieving later after Mike’s body was found and his death confirmed.

Forcing a small smile as she placed the mug of tepid warm tea back down the table, she nodded towards the unneatened food on Jeannie’s plate as she lightly teased, “I know Roy prefers day old hotdogs and stale pizza to my cooking but surely I haven’t managed to ruin a salad, have I?”

Jeannie jumped as she looked up at Sandra in embarrassment, her eyes red from crying, as she placed down her fork onto her still full plate as she rushed to apologize. “Umm no, it’s great. I’m sorry but I guess I’m just not hungry.” She swallowed hard as a tear ran down her face, “I just wish that we would…”

“Hear something?” Sandra finished for her, reaching across the table to hold Jeannie’s hand as Jeannie’s bottom lip trembled and the upset young woman nodded. “Roy promised me yesterday he would let us know as soon as he knew anything- good or bad-  and I haven’t heard from him. So, I guess we can only hope that no news is good news and not give up on your dad.” Sandra continued gently, “I’m not willing to give up on your dad yet and I hope that you’re not ready to give up on him either.”

“I’m not…I guess I mean I’m trying hard not to,” Jeannie admitted softly as she brushed away another tear, “but Mike’s been missing for almost twenty-four hours. It’s…it’s the not…”

Jeannie froze and stared at Sandra, her eyes wide with fear as a long, loud rap at the front door interrupted their conversation.

Squeezing Jeanie’s hand a little harder, Sandra asked softly, “Do you want me to answer the door?”

Jeannie swallowed and nodded wooden, barely able to breathe with fear as she watched the older woman rise and walk into the living room.

Crossing to the front door, Sandra paused and drew a deep breath, preparing herself for bad news, before she opened the door. “Lee.” The young Homicide inspector looked nervous as she invited him in. “Did Roy send you? Is there any news about Mike?” she asked in a rush as she ushered the young man into the living room and closed the door firmly behind him.

Looking around the living room, Lee nodded before he asked softly, “Is..is Jeannie here?”

Hearing Lee ask for her, Jeannie forced herself to stand up and walk out of the kitchen into the living room. Hugging her arms around herself, in an attempt to stop shaking in fear, she whispered through her tightened throat, “They’ve found Mike, haven’t they?”

Lee nodded and smiled, “I just got a call. Roy and Bill just found both Steve and Mike. They’re alive.”

“They found both Mike and Steve alive?” Sandra asked in confusion as she stared at Lee in disbelief before she turned and look across at Jeannie who appeared just as shocked and confused as she was that Steve had also been found alive. Turning back to Lee, she asked again, “They found both of them?”

Lee nodded as he walked across and gently grabbed Jeannie’s arm, “I will explain everything in the car on our way to the hospital. I’m not sure of their conditions but I do know Steve is currently being medi-vaced to the General and Mike will also be medi-vaced to the General shortly. I thought you would like to be there when they arrive.”

Sandra paused only long enough to grab both Jeannie’s and her own handbags before she gently grabbed Jeannie’s other arm and guided the shocked young woman towards the door as she said, “Let’s go.”


	25. Chapter 25

Sandra Devitt studied the shocked face of the young woman sitting in the front of the unmarked police car in the rear vision mirror before she looked back at the back of the head of the young Homicide lieutenant as Lee slid behind the steering wheel and closed his door. “I don’t understand, the news reports said that the driver killed in crash yesterday was Steve. If it wasn’t Steve, then who was driving his car and why didn’t Roy tell me that there was a possibility that Steve was alive?”

Lee glanced across at Jeannie before he looked back at the dark blue eyes watching him intently in the rear vision mirror. He remained silent for a moment as he  over his shoulder and pulled away from the curb, momentarily uncertain just how much information about the case that he should reveal to the two women just yet. Taking a deep breath, he looked back at the woman in the rear vision mirror as he tried to give as brief an explanation as he could. “We believed the body in the car was Steve, after all it was his unmarked police car and he was the only person who was supposed to be driving it. There was just nothing to suggest it could have been anyone else.” Lee shrugged as he returned his attention back to the road, “We were just waiting for Bernie to make the formal identification before we officially released the name but the media got the jump on us and released Steve’s name before we were able to confirm it was Steve.”

“I still don’t understand, why didn’t Roy tell us after the autopsy was done that it wasn’t Steve? Why did he let us, Jeannie, think Steve was dead and that Mike’s disappearance possibly something more than a fishing accident? How could Roy, not just him but all of you, allow us to believe Mike and Steve were dead?” The older woman’s fury rose as the shock of finding out that two close friends, whom she believed to be dead, were still alive. Glancing again at Jeannie, who was sitting silently in the front seat staring straight ahead, Sandra looked back at Lee in the rear vision mirror as she demanded angrily, “What were you all thinking?”

“The autopsy on the body from the accident was unable to provide us with a positive identification on the body.” Lee continued as he steered the large car around a slower moving vehicle, “And all the information we were able to gather on Mike’s disappearance indicated that Mike had fallen into the river while fishing and was presumed drowned. The lieutenant even sent Bill Tanner to Yosemite to help in the search. It wasn’t late last night that Charlie was able to gather enough evidence from the crash scene that left the lieutenant with some doubts about Steve being the driver and then this morning we received some information that both Steve’s and Mike’s disappearances might be connected to a diamond heist that happened about five years ago and it was possible that the both of them could still be alive.”

Jeannie turned and frowned in confusion, “A diamond heist that happened five years ago? What did that have to do with Mike's and Steve's disappearances?”

 “I will leave that to the lieutenant to explain but this morning the lieutenant got a lead that Mike and possibly Steve were being held in a cabin in Redwood National Park. So, the lieutenant and Bill went to check it out. He didn’t want to say anything to either of you and give you any false hopes in case the lead didn’t pan out. He even kept the search at Yosemite going just in case…” Lee explained as he turned into the hospital entrance and headed towards the Emergency Department. “What the…?” he muttered in surprise.

“What?” Jeannie asked as she turned and found herself staring at a large crowd of reporters and news crews crowded outside the entrance doors to the ER, as they turned as one and hurried across to the LTD, calling out for questions wanting to confirm that Steve had not been killed in the fiery crash the day before and demanding to know just what had happened to the two Homicide officers as Lee coasted to a stop.

“How the hell did they find out so fast!” Lee muttered as he reached for the radio and called for some uniformed officers to attend the scene before he turned and looked at the two women and asked, “Do you want to leave and return when the uniformed guys get here or do you want to try and run the gauntlet?”

Looking at the reporters and news cameras that now surrounded them, Jeannie turned and looked towards the entrance doors as she looked back at Sandra who reached across and squeezed her hand. Taking a deep breath and she turned back to Lee, “You said Steve is currently being medi-vaced to the hospital and Mike will be medi-vaced shortly?”

Lee nodded.

Sitting up straighter as she reached for the door, she asked, “When what are we doing sitting out here? Reporters or no reporters, I don’t care, I want to be waiting for them when they arrive!”

“You heard the lady, Inspector,” Sandra smiled proudly, opening her door against the surge of the reporters and the noise of their shouted questions and demands for answers as she turned and looked at Lee, “What are we doing sitting out here?”

SOSF SOSF SOSF

“Calling all passengers for Pan Am flight 105, San Francisco to New York, please precede to gate 8. Your flight is now ready for boarding.”

Grabbing the small canvas bag from the floor next to his seat, Brian Keller quickly looked around to reassure himself that nobody, especially the airports security guards, were paying him any undue attention as he rose to his feet and headed towards the gate to join other passengers who were lining up. Pulling out his ticket and boarding pass from his pocket, he glanced across at the television screen in the waiting area as he waited in line for his turn to have his boarding pass checked.

He froze as he saw a photo of Steve appear on the screen, although he could not hear the excited words of the reporter, he read the headlines that rolled across the bottom of the screen. ‘Homicide inspector, presumed dead after fiery car crash found alive.’

“Sir, may I see your boarding pass?” the young gate attendant asked, frowning as the dark-haired man ignored her attempts to get his attention. “Sir, your boarding pass please?” she asked again, reaching for the distracted man’s arm as the man rubbed his hand nervously over his head and left it sitting on the back of his neck as he continued to stare at the screen. “Sir?”

Brian jumped as he turned questioningly back towards the young woman.

“Your boarding pass, Sir?” her frown deepened as the man quickly glanced back at the television screen before he looked at her again and mumbled his apologies, saying that he had decided to take a later flight before he turned and hurried away, clutching his canvas bag tightly against his chest.

 


	26. Chapter 26

Pushing through the jostling crush of reporters and pushing back the television cameras that seemed to appear in front of their faces, no matter which direction they looked, Lee firmly held Jeannie’s and Sandra’s elbows as he ushered them quickly towards the Emergency Room entrance doors.

Jeannie stopped and turned to look up as the whirling sounds of an approaching helicopter’s blades grew louder over the shouts and demands of the news reporters. She watched as the rescue helicopter flew over them before disappearing above the roof of the hospital a few seconds before the sound of the whirling blades slowed and then grew silent. “That has to be Steve!” Jeannie announced as she shook free of Lee’s light hold and began to push through the surrounding crowd as Sandra and Lee quickly followed her.

Pushing through the doors of the ER, Jeannie stopped as she saw the elevator doors open and a stretcher surrounded by doctors, nurses and three men dressed in flight suits being pushed out of the elevator. Through the surrounding bodies that surrounded the stretcher, she instantly recognized the patient’s light brown hair. “Steve!” she whispered as she ran across to join the small entourage as they wheeled the stretcher towards one of the Emergency Examination rooms.

“The patient is twenty-eight-year-old Homicide Inspector Steven Keller who is suffering blunt force trauma from being severely beaten during the last twenty-four hours. There is also a possibility that he also may have been involved in a fatal car accident yesterday, although that has not yet ben confirmed. He has several palpable rib fractures on the right side, one rib we believe may have punctured his lung. BP 70/50, pulse- 130, he’s cyanotic, breath sounds have ceased on the right-hand side. Doctor Hansen inserted a needle into the right side of his chest in the inter-costal space between the fifth and sixth rib and evacuated 100 ccs of frothy blood before we commenced the medical evacuation.” One helicopter medics told the medical staff, glancing across at the young woman who pushed her way to the side of the stretcher and gently grabbed the patient’s hand as she ran alongside, her face paling with fear as she stared down at the young inspector’s bruised and battered face which was half hidden by the oxygen mask. He continued his report as the door to the examination room was pushed open and he helped push the stretcher inside, “He also has suffered a fractured right arm as well as facial and head injuries, blood and fluid present in his left ear canal. We have started him on normal saline, opened wide, and …”

“I’m sorry, Miss, but you will have to wait out here.”

Jeannie jumped as the nurse gently released her tight hold on Steve’s hand and prevented her from entering the examination room. “But …” Jeannie began to protest as she stepped around the nurse as Steve was carefully lifted across to the examination bed.

“I promise that as soon as there are any updates on the Inspector’s condition, we will let you know,” the nurse promised her softly, stepping back in front of her, blocking her view of her father’s partner as she was gently pushed out of the room before the door closed firmly in front of her.

Hurrying across to where Jeannie stood, staring at the closed door, Lee gently grabbed her arm before he guided her across to one of the hard chairs in the small area that had been set up as a waiting room area. After gently sitting her down next to his lieutenant’s wife, he hurried across and poured two mugs of the black thick sludge that he hoped was coffee from the small coffee-pot on the small table in the corner of the room. Glancing across at the two women, he chewed uncertainly on his bottom lip before he added sugar and cream and quickly stirred the two mugs. Picking them up, he crossed back to the two worried women and handed each a mug as he tried to reassure them both, “I’m sure the doctor will update us on Steve’s condition as soon as he can.”

SOSF SOSF SOSF

 “Anything else you need, Doc, cause we’ve got to get back and evac his partner...” The medic asked as he and the other members of the rescue team stepped back from their patient, allowing the medical staff to take over the Inspector’s treatment.

Glancing up at the three men standing near the door, the doctor gave them a small tight smile, “No, you guys take off, we’ll take everything from here. How long do you think your ETA will be with his partner?”

“Twenty minutes flight time there, twenty minutes back,” the medic frowned, shrugging as he added, “But it really depends on what sort of a rescue we end up encountering, whether we have to winch the lieutenant up from the bottom of the ravine or if they have managed to stretcher him out and have stabilized him enough to be medi-vaced out. I just don’t know ‘til we get there... “

The doctor nodded and turned back to his patient in what the medic knew was a silent dismissal. Turning, he nodded for his team to grab their gear before he quickly led them out of the examination room.


	27. Chapter 27

Slumped sullenly against the wall, Davids turned and watched as the cabin door opened and Yates helped carry the injured cop, who strapped securely into the stretcher, inside. A small snarl of hatred curled his top lip as he stared at the injured man, he had hoped the cop had been killed in the fall.

Turning away from the small group who surrounded the stretcher in the middle of the room, he looked around the room. His eyes drifted disinterestedly across the sheet covered body of his boss, the young ranger who was standing in the doorway before they flickered past the cop and the ranger who were guarding him. He froze, as his heart began to beat faster as he looked towards the ranger standing in the doorway before he surreptitiously glanced back up at the two men who were supposed to be guarding him who were instead watching the activity around the stretcher. Quickly looking back across at the men who were now kneeling around the stretcher, a small smile tugged at his lips.

 Using his handcuffed hands to push off the wall behind him, he lunged forward, stumbling to his feet as he charged at the ranger standing at the door.

“Davids!” Bill shouted in surprise, trying to grab the larger man, as Davids’s shoulder charged the young ranger, knocking him out of the way before fleeing out of the cabin.

“No Bobby, don’t!” Yates yelled horrified as he turned and tried to follow his friend as Davids ran out of the door with the two Homicide officers following closely behind.

Mike cried out in pain, the muscles in his back and leg began to spasm, causing him to arch against the straps that held him securely against the rigid backboard, as Tony jumped up, accidentally knocking the stretcher. Grabbing Yate’s arm, Tony stopped Yates from following as he softly admonished the upset man, “Trying to follow him isn’t a good idea, my friend, my men are all armed and I will give them the order to shoot if I have to.”

Un- holstering his gun as he ran out the door, with Roy close behind, Bill fired his weapon in the air before he aimed it at the fleeing prisoner as he shouted out a warning, “Davids, stop or I will shoot!” He saw the still handcuffed man hesitate and stop before Davids slowly turned and stared at balefully at him.

“Go ahead and shoot, Cop,” Davids said softly as he began to walk threateningly back towards Bill, “because there’s no way you are taking me back to jail.”

“Stay right where you are, Davids, and get down on your knees,” Roy ordered as he raised his gun and trained it on the escaped prisoner as Davids continued towards them.

With a sudden, loud, infuriated growl, Davids lowered his head and charged towards them as two simultaneous shots rang out. Taking three more faltering steps, Davids slowly collapsed to his knees as a red stain bloomed out across his chest. Looking up at the two officers who still had their guns trained on him, he smiled, before he fell forward onto the ground.

Slowly approaching the downed man as Roy covered him, Bill knelt and pressed his fingers against the large man’s neck, feeling for any signs of life. Looking up at his lieutenant, he silently shook his head as he rose back to his feet and reholstered his gun.

“He didn’t want to go back to prison.” Roy murmured, reholstering his own weapon as Bill turned and walked back to where he was standing.

“So, he took the easy way out.” Bill sighed, glancing back at the body lying on the ground.

“Yeah, suicide by cop.” Roy nodded, patting Bill on the shoulder before he turned towards the forest as he heard voices a moment before the helicopter medical retrieval team appeared. Turning back to Bill, Roy lightly squeezed his shoulder as he said quietly, “Let’s get out of here and take Mike home.”

“Why don’t you go back with Mike in the copter, Roy, I’ll stay here and tie things up with the local boys, and when I wrap things up I will bring Yates back with me” Bill volunteered, stepping aside to let the medical team pass as he looked around at the body on the ground before glancing at the sheet covered body he could see lying just inside the cabin, before he looked back at Roy and added, “Four of these bastards, including Steve’s father, have slipped through our fingers, I don’t want that bastard inside getting off on a technicality, not after what they have put Mike and Steve through!”

Looking at his upset inspector, Roy nodded and squeezed Bill’s shoulder again. “Okay, I will keep you updated on Mike’s and Steve’s conditions and I will see you back in San Francisco,” he agreed before he turned and quickly followed the retrieval team back inside the cabin.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

“Why aren’t they back with Mike yet?” Jeannie asked, running her hand through her thick hair as she paused in her nervous pacing of the small waiting room and turned to look questioningly towards Sandra as she asked worriedly, “What can be taking them so long?”

Rising from the chair, Sandra quickly crossed the room and grabbed Jeannie’s hands, holding them tightly, “They will have to prepare Mike to be airlifted first, and we don’t know how long that takes,” she reassured Jeannie as she released one of Jeannie’s hands and gently brushed back behind Jeannie’s ear, a stray piece of hair that had fallen across Jeannie’s face. “I’m sure that they are looking after him and it won’t be much longer before you see him.”

Swallowing hard, Jeannie nodded as she forced a small weak smile, “Thanks.” 

Lightly cupping Jeannie’s cheek, Sandra smiled affectionately back before she looked over Jeannie’s shoulder towards the elevator as the doors slid open and a stretcher was wheeled out surrounded by medical staff and the same airmen who had brought Steve into the hospital. “You’re welcome, Sweetheart,” she answered distractedly.

Frowning, Jeannie turned to see what had caught Sandra’s attention. “Mike!”


	28. Chapter 28

“Mike?” Jeannie turned and ran towards the stretcher with Sandra and Lee following closely behind. “Mike!”

“Can we hold it a sec, guys?” Roy asked softly, glancing across at Jeannie as she ran towards them before looking back at the doctor as he quickly explained, “That’s his daughter.”

Needing no more an explanation than those three simple words, the doctor nodded at the medical staff to wait before stepping aside as Jeannie reached the side of the stretcher.

Reaching the stretcher, Jeannie stared at her father who was strapped tightly to the back board. Mike’s head held rigid by red covered foam bocks that had been placed each side of his head at his pale, scrapped and pain-pinched face, his eyes were closed and the lower half of his face was covered by an oxygen mask, the tubing to two drips, suspended above the stretcher by one of the retrieval team, snaked down to disappear beneath the blanket that had been carefully tucked around her father.  “Ohh, Daddy,” she murmured, choking on her tears as she tried hard not to cry.

Forcing his eyes open, Mike blinked slowly as he tried to focus on the blurry familiar face that hovered in his limited line of sight. “I’m okay… Sweetheart,” he breathed softly, forcing a small smile beneath the oxygen mask as he weakly squeezed the small hand that slipped into his under the blanket.

Swallowing hard, Jeannie nodded, her bottom lip quivering as she leaned down and lightly kissed her father’s forehead. “I know you are,” she murmured, straightening up and tightly squeezing his hand again as she watched his eyes slide closed.

“I’m sorry but we really have to get him into the Examination Room,” the doctor told her gently, nodding at the medical staff surrounding the stretcher as Sandra gently grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away before the stretcher was wheeled away.

“Come on, Jeannie, we have to let the doctors do their job.”

Wrapping her arms around herself, Jeannie nodded, unable to speak as she turned and watched as Mike’s stretcher was rushed into the examination room next to the one Steve had been taken into almost an hour before.

Roy watched silently as his wife wrapped her arm around Jeannie’s shoulders as she murmured something softly into the young girl’s ear before leading her back across to the waiting area. Grabbing Lee’s arm to stop the young inspector as Lee began to follow them, Roy guided him down the corridor, stopping when he was satisfied they could speak without anyone overhearing.

“How’s Steve?” he asked quietly, glancing towards the Examination Room doors.

“Critical,” Lee answered softly. “His right lung had completely collapsed when they brought him in. The doctors decided to insert a chest tube before they were going to take him to x-ray but he was bleeding too heavily into his chest. They had no choice, they had to rush him into the OR for emergency surgery to try to relieve the pressure on his heart caused by the blood that was pooling in his chest. They are also worried about possible head injuries, they promised to update us on his condition as soon as they can.” Glancing back over his shoulder at Jeannie who was sitting rigidly on one of the chairs worrying a tissue she was holding in her lap, he turned back to Roy and added, “Jeannie took it hard.”

Looking over Lee’s shoulder at the two women in the waiting room before he looked back at his inspector, Roy sighed as he ran a hand tiredly over his face, feeling twenty years older than he had felt yesterday morning before this nightmare started, “Mike’s not in any better condition. He and Steve fell into a fifty-foot-deep ravine, Steve landed on a ledge about halfway down but Mike fell to the bottom. They don’t know what kind of internal, head or back injuries they may be dealing with yet, he also took a round in the back. He’s lost a lot of blood and his blood pressure was unstable on the flight here.” Looking back across at Jeannie, he sighed, “Jeannie’s going to need as much support as we can give her over the next twenty-four hours, especially if something happens to either Mike or Steve.”

Swallowing hard, Lee nodded before he cleared his throat before he began hesitantly, “I’ve got an APB out on Brian Keller. No reported sightings of him. I have extra patrols watching Steve’s apartment and the halfway house where he was staying but so far no luck, it’s like the city has swallowed him up.” Roy nodded stiffly, his anger rising at the mere mention of the man’s name as Lee hesitated and drew a deep breath. “There’s more, Roy.”

Remaining silent, the Homicide lieutenant waited for his inspector to continue, suspecting that he was not going to like what he was about to be told.

 “I checked with Robbery about how many diamonds were grabbed during the heist.”  Shifting nervously under his lieutenant’s soul piercing stare, Lee continued, “And it looks like we’ve only recovered about half the diamonds…”

“So, Keller might have had the rest of the diamonds stashed away…” Roy looked past Lee at the closed Examination Room door as he frowned, “Or maybe Quintin was right when he suspected that Keller was working with someone else.” Turning back to Lee, he demanded, "I want him found!"

SOSF SOSF SOSF

“Looks like the news guys have decided to set up camp right outside the hospital.” the taxi driver observed as he drove towards the entrance doors of the ER, glancing at the man in his rear vision mirror who was combing down his greasy hair before returning his attention back to the road as he looked for the best place to pull up and allow his passenger out. “Bet they’re waitin’ for word on that young cop who they thought was killed in that car crash yesterday. Ya know the one I’m talkin’ about, they found him this morning, apparently, he was kidnapped or somethin’, so the news reports on the radio claim. I heard he’s in a real bad way.”

Brian paused with the comb in the stroke as he looked at the back of the head of the taxi driver, “How bad?”

“Critical, I think they said. From what I heard from the radio news reports it don’t sound like they expect him to live.” The driver answered, coasting the large car into the closest parking space to the hospital entrance doors as he could before he put it into park and turned back to his customer. “Sorry I can’t get ya any closer but them news trucks have taken up all the spaces and there’s too many reporters on the road ahead to for me to even try and drop ya off near the doors.”

“That’s okay, I can walk from here,” Brian smiled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten-dollar bill, tossing it across the seat towards the driver. “Keep the change,” he told the older man as he grabbed the canvas bag from the seat beside him and opened the car door.

“Hey, thanks, Buddy,” the driver grinned, stuffing the money into his pocket and his passenger climbed out and slammed the door.

Stepping out onto the sidewalk, Brian waited until the taxi pulled away before he combed his hair again, parting it on the left side before he put the comb back into his jacket pocket and pulled a pair of black thick-rimmed glasses that he had placed there. Glancing towards the small crowd of reporters and cameramen who were milling around the front doors of the hospital and the two uniformed officers who were guarding the door, Brian put on the glasses, adjusting them a little until they sat on his face comfortably.

Walking along the sidewalk, he paused as he walked past a parked car, leaning down so he was able to see his reflection in its side mirror before he tugged at the neck of the new turtle neck sweater he was wearing to cover the red rope burns around his neck and brushed several strands of his now short, dyed jet-black hair down onto his forehead.

Taking a deep breath to settle his nerves, he confidently walked towards the doors, ignoring the crowd of reporters as he walked past them and nodded his thanks to the officer who opened the door to allow him to enter the hospital before closing it behind him.

 


	29. Chapter 29

Rubbing the back of his neck with his hand to try and dispel some of the stiffness that had settled there after sitting so long on the hard-plastic chair, Roy looked up at the large clock on the wall. Both Mike and Steve had both been in surgery for over three hours and there had been no updates on either of them. Glancing around the small crowded waiting room, Roy could see the fear and worry that he was feeling mirrored in the faces of his fellow officers, who had come to the hospital, some as soon as they had finished work, others after they had received a phone call on their day off telling them what had happened, as they anxiously waited for an update on the two popular officers. Returning his attention to the young woman sitting between his wife and himself, he reached across and gave Jeannie’s trembling hand a light squeeze as he whispered, “We should hear something soon.”

Biting her bottom lip, Jeannie nodded as she continued to stare at the door, willing it to open and the doctors to come in and announce that both operations had been a success and the two most important men in her life were going to make a fast and full recovery.

All heads turned as one and the soft murmurs within the room fell silent as the waiting room door finally opened and the two surgeons walked in together, both still dressed in their blue operating theater scrubs.

Rising to his feet, Roy slowly followed Jeannie as she hurried across the room to meet the doctors, as he tried to read the doctors’ faces so he could prepare himself for whatever news, good or bad, they were about to receive. Roy sighed, both men must be Hell of a poker players, neither doctors’ faces gave anything away. He felt Sandra’s and Jeannie’s hands slide into his, both squeezing his hands tightly with fear as they joined the doctors near the door. “How are they?” Roy asked as he felt the holds on his hands tighten and the two women on either side of him remained silent.

He watched, momentarily unable to breathe, as both doctors traded glances before the older man returned his attention back to the three, worried people who were standing in front of him before he glanced at the silent crowd of police officers and friends of the two injured men who were sitting silently in the waiting room waiting for an answer. Returning his attention back Jeannie, Roy, and Sandra, he began, “My name is Leon Todds, and I am the surgeon who operated on the Lieutenant. Tilting his head towards the other surgeon, he added, "And this is Dr Hunter, he is the surgeon taking care of Inspector Keller." He paused as Hunter nodded at the three anxious people in front of them before he continued,"Lieutenant Stone’s condition is critical but stable and he is being currently in recovery. He will be transferred to the ICU for monitoring soon. He suffered multiple injuries, the most serious of which are the internal injuries he sustained in the fall and from being shot.”

“What sort of injuries are we talking about?” Roy asked cautiously, glancing across at Jeannie, trying not to wince as the grip she had on his hand tightened to a bone bruising intensity.

Looking at the white-faced young girl, whom the nurses had warned him was the Lieutenant’s daughter, who appeared on the verge of passing out, the surgeon gently grabbed Jeannie’s elbow as he led her back to one of the chairs as he said gently, “Let’s take a seat first.”

Waiting until Jeannie had settled on the chair, Dr Todds gently placed his hand on her shoulder, ensuring he had her full attention before giving her a light reassuring squeeze as he continued his update. “As I have said Lieutenant’s Stone’s condition is critical but stable and I do expect him to make a complete recovery, but that’s not to say his recovery is going to be fast or easy. It’s going to take a couple of months for his injuries to fully heal. He was shot in the back, I understand while trying to escape.” He glanced at Roy for confirmation before looking back at Jeannie when Roy nodded silently as he continued gently, “The bullet lodged in his small intestines, resulting in significant blood loss and causing bacteria to leak out and contaminate his guts. We removed the bullet and were able to repair the damage. We also washed out the contamination and have started him on antibiotics and replacing the blood he has lost. He also broke several ribs near his spine and also his left leg in the fall and suffered some internal bruising to his lungs and a concussion.” Looking back at Roy, Todds added, “He was extremely lucky, we believe that his fall was probably broken by the undergrowth and ferns growing on the sides and at the bottom of the ravine.” Looking back at Jeannie he continued his report, “He is going to have to return to the operating room when he is a little stronger to have the break in his leg repaired and we are watching him closely for any infections but as I said before,” He smiled down at her as he tried to reassure her, “he’s critical but I do believe he is going to make a full recovery, it’s just going to take some time. Once we get him settled into his room in the ICU, I will take you up to see him.”

“What about Steve?” Roy asked quietly as he looked across at Dr Hunter who had stepped closer.

“I’m afraid that Inspector Keller’s condition is critical but unstable, he was severely beaten resulting in several broken ribs, a broken arm and a severe concussion as well as a fractured cheekbone and a perforated eardrum caused by a severe blow to the head. Unfortunately, one of the ribs tore his right lung, causing it to collapse and the right side of his chest to fill with blood, placing pressure on his heart and stopping it. We were able to drain the blood to relieve the pressure and restart his heart before we repaired the lung. We will be monitoring his lung closely for anymore bleeding as it re-inflates.”

“But Steve’s going to be alright, isn’t he?” Jeannie asked softly.

The surgeon hesitated before he looked down at Jeannie, “At the moment, I’m afraid his condition is still touch and go. If he survives the next twelve hours, he has a chance.”

Unable to speak as the tears began to trickle down her face, Jeannie nodded as she clutched Sandra’s hand more tightly.

Glancing down at his watch before he looked back up at Jeannie, Roy and Sandra, Dr Todds announced softly, “I’m afraid that you won’t be able to see Inspector Keller yet until his condition stabilizes a little more but they should have the lieutenant settled in his room by now. Would you like to see him for a few minutes?”

Jeannie nodded as she rose from her chair and began to follow the surgeon out of the waiting room. Following Jeannie and the surgeon out of the waiting room, Sandra stopped and frowned as Roy turned and began to head down the corridor instead of following the surgeon across to the elevator to go up to the ICU. “Roy, are you coming?” she asked softly, grabbing his arm.

Roy turned back towards her and gave a small shake of his head, “No, not yet. I have to get back to the station. Bill should be arriving with one of Mike’s and Steve’s kidnappers and I want to be there when he does. I also want to check the APB we have out on the other person involved in the plot. But please, Sweetheart, stay with Jeannie, she needs you. I will be back as soon as I can, I promise. And if there is any, and I mean any, change at all in either Mike’s or Steve’s conditions…”

“I will let you know straight away.” Sandra nodded, lightly kissing her husband on the cheek. “Now go, I will take care of Jeannie but promise me you are going to arrest the bastards who did this and are going to charge them with everything you can. Don’t let them get off,” she whispered quietly into his ear.

 “I won’t,” Roy promised, kissing her back lightly before he turned and hurried down the corridor.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Standing in the corridor, Brian turned away as the doors to the waiting room opened and the surgeon, followed by two women and the police lieutenant who had interviewed him at the station before his arrest walked out. Trying to pretend he was interested in the contents of the drink machine, he listened closely to the conversation between Roy and his wife. Swallowing hard as his rubbed the back of his head as he forced himself to continue to study the contents of the machine. His heart began to beat painfully in his chest as he overheard Roy ask to be kept updated on Steve’s and Mike’s conditions.

Ducking his head, Brian released a soft breath of relief when Roy walked right past him without even a glance. He watched the Homicide lieutenant walk away, before he turned and hurried to join the surgeon and the two women as they entered the elevator.

Stepping back to allow the black-haired man to join them in the elevator, Todds hit the button that would take them up to the ICU before he asked, “What floor?”

“Same floor you’re going to.” Brian nodded cordially as he cast a quick glance at Jeannie’s tear stained face.

 


	30. Chapter 30

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm his temper, Bill turned and walked out of the small interrogation room, slamming the door hard as he left, causing not only the man whom he had been trying to interrogate but also his fellow inspectors and police officers who were in the bullpen to jump and turn to stare at him in surprise. The normally unflappable inspector ignored the questioning looks as he headed across to the coffee table and poured himself a mug of the strong black coffee, that was rumoured to be able to be used to strip paint, and took a large sip, grimacing at the coffee’s bitter burnt taste.

“Is everything okay, Bill?” Grabowski asked as he joined his colleague at the coffee table, pouring himself a mug of the deadly brew as he cast a covert glance towards the frightened man sitting in the interrogation room before returning his attention back to the man he was standing next to.

Taking another deep breath as he placed his mug back down on the table, Bill nodded as he added cream and two large teaspoons of sugar before stirring his coffee vigorously. “Yeah, everything’s fine,” he sighed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out some loose change, dropping the coins into the collection jar before he picked up his mug again and turned to look at the man in the interrogation room. Taking another large sip of his coffee, he turned back to his colleague as he admitted quietly, “I just needed to get out of there before I did something that could jeopardize our case.”

“That bad?” Grabowski frowned.

Bill nodded slowly and sighed, “Yeah, that bad. I have just had to listen to him as he described how they grabbed Steve in order to force his father and Mike to return the diamonds and what a perverse thrill that Davids got beating him long after he had lost consciousness before they threw him in the car and kidnapped him.”

“To force Mike?” Grabowski’s frown deepened as he stared at Bill in disbelief before slowly turned and stared at Yates. “He’s claiming Mike was involved in all of this? You don’t believe him, do you? Mike was grabbed as well.”

“No, of course I don’t.” Bill snapped a little more harshly than he meant. “Of course not,” he continued lowering his voice as he patted Grabowski’s shoulder in a silent apology, “I guess it’s just after believing both Steve and Mike had been killed in separate accidents yesterday, and after seeing Mike’s and Steve’s conditions in that cabin today after finding them….” Bill shook his head, “Then having to take his statement…”

“Look Bill, why don’t you get out of here for a couple of hours. Maybe go home for a couple of hours to unwind or even go to the hospital to see how Steve and Mike are. I will finish taking his statement and charge him.”

Bill paused with the mug he was holding held halfway up to his lips as he glanced towards the interrogation room again before he slowly returned his attention back to his friend and nodded. “Just make sure that you do everything by the book and when you take him down to the holding cells, tell the guys I want a close eye kept on him. I don’t want him getting off on a technicality or escaping like Keller did.”

 “I will tape his statement as well as get it down on paper and I will make sure the guys down in booking know that he is to be watched closely.” Grabowski nodded as he took the mug from Bill’s hand and placed it onto the coffee table before he began to gently steer his friend towards the bullpen door, grabbing Bill’s coat and handing it to him as they passed his desk. “Don’t worry, Bill, we have him dead to rights. There’s no way that he’s going to walk after what he and his buddies did to Mike and Steve and neither will Steve’s father when we find him. Now go. I will tell Roy that I insisted that you take the rest of the day off and that you won’t be back until tomorrow.”

“Thanks.” Bill murmured as he was ushered out of the door before he looked back over his shoulder, his anger churning his guts as he clutched his teeth at the mere sight of at the man still sitting in the interrogation room. He stood silently watching as Grabowski turned and grabbed the tape recorder from of the bench before he called out to Wilkins to join him, and the two inspectors headed across the bullpen and entered the interrogation room. Turning away from the door, Bill hurried out to the corridor, he knew going home to rest was not an option, not when he could join Roy, Lee, Sandra and Jeannie at the hospital as they waited for update on Mike’s and Steve’s conditions.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

After trailing slowly behind the doctor, Sandra and Jeannie as they got off the elevator and entered the ICU, Brian glanced into the room the doctor led the two women into. A small snarl of hatred curled his lips and his hands tightened into fists as he recognized the injured man in the bed. Stone! The man who was responsible for not only his arrest but this whole damn mess he now found himself in.

Looking up at the room number above the door, Brian quickly memorized it, jumping as he felt a light hand touch his shoulder. Slowly turning around, Brian sighed as he expected to find himself looking into the face of a cop. The sigh turned into a small breath of relief as the young nurse, standing there, asked, “Can I help you? Are you looking for someone?”

Clutching the canvas bag he held tighter against his chest, Brian tried to look embarrassed, looking down at the floor before he looked back up at her and gave her a small smile, “I looking for a friend of mine, Paul…Paul Barlow, I was told that he was admitted here, in the cardiac care ward, earlier this afternoon after he suffered from a heart attack, so I thought I would bring him some essentials like his pajamas, his toothbrush, stuff like that,” Brian quickly looked around in confusion before he returned his attention back to the nurse as he added softly, but I … I can’t seem to find his room.”

“That’s because you are in the ICU and not cardiac care,” the nurse smiled warmly as she began to lead him out of the ward as she continued, “CCU is one floor down, I am sure you will find your friend there.”

“Thank you.” Brian smiled back as they reached the ICU doors and he turned back and glanced at the room Stone was in, memorizing just where precisely it was, before he looked back down at the nurse and added shyly, “I feel a little silly.”

 “Please don’t feel silly about getting mixed up, it’s an easy mistake to make.” the nurse tried to reassure him as she watched him turn and walk back towards the elevator.


	31. Chapter 31

Stepping out of the elevator, Roy paused as he saw the entrance doors to the hospital foyer slide open before Bill stepped through them. He studied Bill’s tense face as his inspector hurried across to the elevator to join him and asked, “Any word on Mike and Steve?”

“Both are out of surgery and listed as critical, Mike’s pretty beaten up, the bullet lodged in his intestines, the doctors were able to remove it but he lost a lot of blood. He also suffered several broken ribs near his spine as well as internal bruising a concussion and his broken leg. The docs say they are confident that he will make it but he’s got a long and painful recovery ahead of him.”

“And Steve?”

Roy hesitated and looked over Bill’s shoulder at the entrance doors as he took a deep breath. Looking back at his inspector, all he could do was shake his head, “He’s not doing as good, the docs say he critical but unstable, it’s touch and go at the moment. The doc said he was beaten severely…”

Bill swallowed and nodded, “I know, Yates told me in great detail how much pleasure Davids took in beating him when he tried to resist being grabbed, he said Davids continued the beating long after Steve lost consciousness."

“They broke his ribs, his arm as well as his cheekbone and they left him with a severe concussion. The doc said one of the broken ribs tore his lung and caused it to collapse. His chest filled with blood and put pressure on his heart,” Roy swallowed hard, rubbing his face as he struggled to remain in control of his emotions before he continued softly, “causing his heart to stop. The doctors were able to drain the blood and re-start his heart again before they repaired the lung and they are going to be monitoring him closely for anymore bleeding but at the moment …” Roy sighed softly and shrugged, stepping out of the way as the elevator door opened and a dark-haired man, carrying a canvas bag stepped out and hurried past them.

“Does Mike know?” Bill asked.

“Not yet, he’s still pretty heavily sedated. Jeannie and Sandra are with him now. I was just about to head back to the bullpen to get a quick update before coming back and sitting with Steve for the night.” Roy shrugged as he quietly admitted, “I don’t want him to be alone just in case … in case anything ...”

Bill nodded as they turned back to the lift and hit the button as Bill began to update his lieutenant, “I left Grabowski to get Yates’s confession. Yates has waived his Miranda rights and didn’t even want to lawyer up. He says he just wants to get it all off his chest and admit to what he did, that grabbing Steve and Mike wasn’t his idea, it was Quintin’s after Quintin discovered that Keller had stolen the diamonds he was supposed be retrieving.”  Bill paused and looked away, momentarily unable to look his lieutenant in the face as the elevator door opened and they stepped inside, “I had to get out of the interview room, Roy, I didn’t want to blow it by beating Yates to a pulp after he told me about how they grabbed Steve in an attempt to force his father or Mike to reveal where the diamonds were.”

“Did he say who was driving Steve’s car when it crashed?” Roy asked as he stabbed the button that would take them back up to the ICU with his finger before turning and watching the doors slide closed.

“Just some strung out junkie whom Davids befriended, looking for a way to make a fast buck for his next score.” Bill told him as they felt the elevator begin to rise, “He thought all he was supposed to do was take the car and dump and burn it for the insurance. He didn’t know he was involved in a cop’s assault or kidnapping, Steve was already in the boot of their car when the kid arrived. Yates said Davids gave the kid a hit of juice before he got in Steve’s car.”

“So, he was flying high when he took the car to dump it.”

Bill nodded, “Explains why the car was traveling so fast…”

“And why there were no skid marks before he crashed.”

Bill nodded as the elevator jerked to a stop a second before the door slid open and they stepped out.

“What about Keller? Any sightings of him?”

Bill shook his head as they entered the ICU, “Not yet, but we will find him.” he tried to reassure his boss as Roy led him to his two friend’s ICU rooms.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Jeannie looked over her shoulder as Roy and Bill entered her father’s ICU room.

“How is he?” Bill asked softly as he joined Jeannie at the side of Mike bed and stared down at the pale face of his lieutenant and friend. He swallowed hard as he stared at Mike’s bruised and scrapped face, the white bandage that encircled his friend’s chest and heavy looking cast that Mike’s broken leg was enclosed in, suspended above the bed by a system of rope, weights and pullies that keep designed to help place traction on Mike’s broken leg, so the broken bones could heal correctly.

“He’s sleeping,” Jeannie forced a small smile through her tears as she looked back at her father’s pale face, lightly squeezing the hand she held in her own hand as her other hand gently stroked Mike’s bruised face. “But the doctors are confident that he’s going to be okay.” Biting her bottom lip as a tear fell and left a wet stain on the fresh, lightly starched white sheet that covered her father, she swallowed hard before she whispered, “But Steve isn’t doing as well.”

Placing his arm around Jeannie’s shoulder, Bill gently pulled her closer, as he nodded and continued to look down at Mike, “I know,” he murmured softly before he gave her shoulder a light squeeze, “But Steve’s a fighter and we both know he’s going to try his best not to let Mike down, so don’t give up on him just yet.”

Jeannie nodded as she lifted her hand and brushed away her tears, “I know.”

Standing behind the chair where his wife was sitting, Roy silently watched the soft exchange between Bill and Jeannie as he lightly placed his hand on Sandra’s shoulder before he unconsciously used his pinkie finger to gently brush her cheek.

Looking up at her husband, Sandra lovingly pressed her cheek against his hand, waiting for him to glance down before she gave him a small smile and whispered, “I thought you were headed back to the bullpen.”

Looking down at his wife, Roy nodded, “I was, but Bill gave me a full report when I met him in the lobby so there's no need for me to go back, I will give Rudy a call in a couple of minutes and bring him up to speed about the case.” Shrugging, he added, “And then I think I will sit with Steve for a while.”

Lifting her hand to cover her husband’s hand, Sandra smiled, “I know that Steve isn’t awake, and I know that you’re not Mike, but I think Steve would like to have you with him.”

Roy nodded as he leaned down and lightly kissed her as he whispered, “Thank you. How did I get so lucky to marry a woman like you?”

Sandra’s smile grew a little wider as she looked up lovingly at her husband, “Who said that you are the lucky one? Now go, ring Rudy and then go and sit with Steve. He needs someone with him. I will come in and join you soon,” she softly ordered as she gave him a gentle push back towards the door.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

 “This is all his fault! Everything…” Brian slurred drunkenly into his drink, “everything that’s happened… is all the great Lieutenant Michael Stone’s stinking, lousy fault, not mine! I told him to get his big bulbous nose out of my business, if I wanted to see my kid, I would and he couldn’t stop me. The kid’s my brat, not his!  And if I want to see him, no-one, not even great Lieutenant Michael Stone is going to stop me.” Brian took a deep swig of his drink before he slammed the glass back onto the bar, ignoring the liquor that splashed over his hand as he looked up at the bored barman who rolled his eyes at the rambling drunk, who had been downing drinks for the last four or five hours, and grabbed the dirty dish towel that was tucked into the back of his pants and began to wipe the spillage. Brian ignored the barman’s eye rolling and bored yawn as he continued to complain, “But he just had to be the big hero, didn’t he? Told me I wasn’t to go near my own brat, that Stevie boy was doing just fine without me, that Stevie boy had done just fine with his mother after the bitch left me, and that Stevie boy had grown into a man most fathers would be proud of while I sat in prison after that bitch’s death. Like I had nothing to do with the brat’s upbringing, like I was not the one who had to pull the bitch and the brat back into line each time they disrespected me!”

After taking another big gulp of the fiery liquid, Brian slammed the glass back down and pushed it at the barman in a silent order to re-fill it before he turned and looked at the other patrons in the flea-bitten bar, Standing up, he swayed unsteadily on his feet, hitting his chest with his hand to emphasize what he was saying to the disinterested drinkers around him as he announced, “I was the one who made a man out of my kid, not his damn whore of a mother or that damn partner of his, Lieutenant damn Stone! It was me! Me!

And what happened after Stone stuck his nose into my God damn business? I’ll tell you what Hell happened! My damn kid is now lying in a God damn hospital bed fighting for his life and it’s all Lieutenant fuckin’ Mike Stone’s fault!”

Turning back towards the bar, Brian sat back down and began to again hold his drink between his hands as he stared into the glass and muttered to himself, “All I wanted to do was put things right between the kid and myself, make it up to him for what I did but Stone had to stick his big bulbous nose in my business and screw everything up.”

 Lifting the glass back up to his lips, he paused as he glanced down at his bag. A small vicious smile crept onto his lips as he placed the glass back down without taking a sip before reaching down and picking up the canvas bag he had placed next to his chair. Opening it up, he pushed aside the wad of clothing before he found what he was looking for. Reaching into the bag, he lovingly fingered the soft velvet bag before his fingers glided across the cold metal of the barrel of the gun hidden beneath it. The small vicious smile grew into a hatred filled snarl as he quickly closed the bag and removed his last few dollar notes from his pocket and threw them on the bar. Picking up the glass of bourbon, he swallowed it in one large gulp, slamming the empty glass on top of the money before he turned and staggered towards the door.

He knew which room Stone was in and this time the bastard was not going to be able to stick his nose into anyone else’s business where it wasn’t wanted, he would make sure of that. If he wanted to talk to his brat, to explain everything that happened, to make the kid see that everything that happened wasn’t his fault, that everything he had done, not only when he was forced to be the strict father when Steve was young to make a man out of the kid but everything else since, including stealing Quintin’s diamonds, had been done for him, he would.

 He had just wanted to make Steve finally understand why he did the things he did and make up for everything he did wrong, that he wasn’t a bad man or the bad father the bitch had painted him out to be to their only son.  That was all he had wanted to do when he had tried to contact the kid after he was released from jail but Stone got in the way. And this time, nobody, not even the great Michael Stone and all his father to father advice, was going to stand in his way!

 


	32. Chapter 32

Sitting in the chair close to Steve’s bed, Roy ran a hand over his face and sighed. He always felt proud of himself that he knew his men well but in the last forty-eight hours he discovered that he really did not know any of them as well as he thought he had. He sighed again as he stared at the still figure in the bed who looked so pale in the dim light of the nightlight above the bed as he wondered how much about his partner’s childhood, Mike knew before he started his own investigation of Brian Keller or how much about his abusive childhood at the hands of the man who was supposed to love and protect him that Steve had kept to himself.

A soft noise behind him pulled him out of his morose musings, and he looked up into his wife’s face as she gently placed her hand on his shoulder and kissed the top of his head.

“How’s he doing?” she asked softly looking at Steve’s motionless form as she walked around and sat in the chair beside Roy.

“No change,” Roy sighed as he returned his attention back to the young man in the bed.

“But that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Sandra smiled as she reached across and grabbed Roy’s hand as she added, “Because it means that he’s not any worse.”

“I guess so,” Roy answered, not totally convinced by his wife’s positive answer. Looking back at her, he asked, “How’s Mike?”

“Stable and sound asleep. The nurse told us that he will probably sleep until late tomorrow morning, but he is showing definite signs of improvement. Bill and I managed to convince Jeannie that she should go home and get some sleep, that there is nothing more that she could do here tonight. Poor kid barely managed to sleep at all last night. She only agreed after I promised her that the two of us would stay tonight, in case either Mike or Steve needs us, and that we will call her immediately if anything happens. Bill’s just taken her home and promised that he will stay with her.”

Roy nodded as he returned his attention back to the man in the bed.

“Did you contact Rudy?” Sandra frowned, watching her husband closely.

“Yeah, he’s going to update the chief and will probably come to hospital first thing in the morning. He was going to come tonight but I told him that there was nothing he could do here that we are not already doing and that is waiting. He wants to be keep updated on Mike’s and Steve’s conditions.”

Sandra nodded as she squeezed her husband’s hand, “You know what happened to Steve and Mike wasn’t your fault, don’t you? I mean, Sweetheart, you didn’t give up looking for them after everyone else believed they were both dead. If it wasn’t for you pushing the investigations into both of their… accidents… both would never have been rescued because no one would have known what really happened to them or the danger they were in.”

“I know…” Roy murmured as he turned to face his wife, “It’s not that, it’s…”

Hearing a sudden commotion and yelling outside in the corridor, Roy quickly rose from his chair, the conversation he was just having with his wife, totally forgotten as he drew his gun. Looking down at Sandra he softly ordered, “Stay here.”

Sandra looked terrified as she reached for her husband, grabbing his leg, momentarily stopping him. “What’s going on, Roy?” she whispered.

“I don’t know, I’m going to see, but I want you to stay here and don’t make a noise,” Roy murmured as he grabbed her hand and gave it a light squeeze as he removed it from his leg before he headed towards to the door.

“Please, be careful, Roy!” Sandra murmured fearfully as she watched her as her husband reached the door and carefully poked his head out into the corridor.

Placing the chart, she had been checking, back onto the desk in front of her, the nurse looked up as she heard the door leading into the ICU open. She frowned, glancing up at the wall clock before she watched the dark-haired man who clutching a green canvas bag to his chest, stagger into the ward. Her frown deepened as she realized the unexpected and unwelcomed late-night visitor appeared to be intoxicated as he made his way, unsteadily towards her.

Quickly stepping around the desk, she hurried down the short corridor towards him, hoping to stop him from entering the ward any further then he already had and possibly waking any of her sleeping, critically ill patients. Forcing a warm smile as she reached him, she gently grabbed his arm, in an attempt to turn him around and steer him out of the ward as he told him quietly, “I’m sorry, Sir, but it’s a little too late for any of our patients to receive visitors, maybe you can come back …”

“Get out of my way, no wanna be Florence fuckin’ Nightingale bitch is gunna tell me when I can and I can’t see my own kid! Not you, not that dead bitch of my wife or that bastard Stone.” Brian slurred drunkenly, violently pushing the young nurse out his way, slamming her bodily back up against the nurse’s station as he continued on his way towards Steve’s room. “And if I want to see my brat, I will and no one is gunna stop me!”

Pushing herself away from the desk, the nurse tried to reach for the man’s arm, attempting to stop him from reaching her patient’s room. “Sir,” she tried more firmly again, only to freeze in fright when he turned back towards her, holding a gun in his hand. Time felt like it had liquefied and she felt that she was moving through water as she saw the look of hatred in his eyes. She could smell the overpowering odor of the liquor on his breath as he dropped the canvas bag he had been holding against his chest and grabbed the front of her uniform, roughly pulling her closer.

 “I told you to get the hell out of my way, Bitch, but just like that like my whore of a wife, you just can’t do what you are told,” he snarled in her face.

She felt his spittle hit her face before he slapped her across the face with the gun, knocking her to the ground. She watched in terror as he pointed the gun towards her.

 “Looks like I am going to have to teach you the same lesson, I had to teach her. Keep ya damn mouth shut and don’t try and tell me what to do, Bitch,” Brian slurred at the nurse he had just knocked to the floor as he reached down unsteadily and roughly pulled her back up onto her feet as he raised the gun to hit her again.

Recognizing the voice of the dark-haired man he was now witnessing assaulting the young nurse, Roy raised his gun as he stepped out into the ICU corridor as he yelled “Keller!”

Startled by the unexpected call of his name called, Brian spun the nurse around and pulled her tightly against his chest, pressing the gun against her head before he slowly turned to face Roy who was standing in the doorway of Steve’s room who was holding a gun aimed towards him and his terrified hostage.

“Drop the gun, Keller, and let her go!”


	33. Chapter 33

“Want to be a hero, do ya? Or are ya trying to stop me seeing my own kid, just like this Bitch,” Brian slurred pressing the gun harder against the nurse’s head as he forced her to take an unsteady step towards Roy as he tilted his head towards Mike’s room, “and that bastard in there tried to do?”

“I said drop the weapon!” Roy ordered firmly, his gun never wavering as he heard Sandra’s terrified whisper from somewhere near Steve’s bed.

“Please be careful, Roy.”

“I said get out of my way, Steve’s my kid and if I want to see him, I will, and nobody, not you, not Stone, not this bitch is gunna stop me!” Brian slurred again, his finger tightening on the trigger as his face grew red and he forced the nurse to take another step towards the armed police officer standing in front of her critically ill patient’s room door. “He’s my kid…”

The sound of angry shouting pulled Mike from the warm cocoon of the painless darkness in which he had been cocooned and he struggled to open his eyes as he rolled his head in the direction of angry voices.

“Steve’s my kid and if I want to see him, I will, and nobody, not you, not Stone, not this bitch is gunna stop me!”

Mike found himself staring at two blurry figures who suddenly appeared just outside his door as he heard Roy’s shouted order, “I said drop the gun and let the nurse go! Now!”

He blinked hard, bringing the figures into focus, Mike ‘s breath caught in his throat.

“If you don’t want to see this bitch’s brains blown all over the place, get out of my way and let me see my kid!”

The figure in his doorway was Steve’s father, Brian Keller and he was holding a gun to the head of one of the nurses as he demanded to see his son.

Gritting his teeth, Mike rolled as far as he could onto his side, ignoring the agony that tore through his suspended leg and battered body as he grabbed the raised bedrail and struggled to sit up a little as he weakly called out, “Brian.”

Roy felt his heart miss a beat as he heard Mike weakly call the belligerent drunk man’s name and he watched in horror as Brian spun around, using the nurse to shield him as he aimed the gun into Mike’s room, screaming, “This is all your fault, Stone! You should have kept your God damn nose out of my business. Steve is my son, not yours!”

“Drop the gun!” Roy ordered again as the nurse saw her only chance to escape while Brian was distracted and broke free, running towards the safety of the nurse’s station.

Roy wasn’t certain if he had fired his gun first or Brian had, the two gunshots rang out almost simultaneously, amid the terrified screams of the nurses and his wife. He watched, his gun still trained on Brian’s chest as Brian slowly turned back to face him, blood blossoming out from a small red hole high in Brian’s chest.

 Brian had a look of shocked and surprised on his face as the gun slipped from his hand and cluttered noisily onto the white tiles.  He took a small flattering step towards Roy and Steve’s room, silently mouthing his son’s name before he collapsed to the ground.

 Keeping his gun aimed at the downed man, Roy quickly and cautiously stepped around motionless body and picked up the dropped weapon, safely tucking it into the back of his belt before turning and pressing his fingers against Brian’s throat, checking for a pulse. The soft weak thump beneath his fingertips instantly told him his shot had not been fatal and he quickly grabbed his handcuffs from his belt and non-too gently snapped them around the unconscious man’s wrists before he rose and called over his shoulder to the frightened medical staff. “He’s alive!”

Taking a deep breath, he slowly turned towards Mike’s room, whispering a silent prayer that Brian’s shot had not found its victim, as he slowly entered the dimly light room.


	34. Chapter 34

Desperately scanning the room to find some sort of weapon to use to protect the young man in the bed if she needed to, Sandra grabbed metal chart holder hanging at the foot of the bed. It was not much of a weapon, but it was all that she had. Biting her bottom lip, she stepped between Steve’s bed and the door, holding metal chart holder tightly in front of her, prepared to try and inflict as much damage as she could if the man managed to get past Roy and into the room. She held her breath as the man’s rambling threats got closer as Roy ordered him several times to put down his gun.

She jumped as she heard two gunshots just outside in the corridor. She gripped the metal chart tighter and lifted it up, ready to use it if she needed to as she tried hard not to let her fear that Roy might have been shot overwhelm her. Holding her breath, she waited for something to happen in the silence that followed.

“He’s alive!”

She released the breath, that she did not even realize she was holding, as she heard Roy’s voice. Lowering the metal chart folder back down, she turned to place it on the bedside table as her eyes drifted to Steve.  He had not moved or even reacted to all the commotion or noise just outside his hospital room. Biting her bottom lip, she tried to decide whether she should stay with Steve as Roy had told her to do or go out and make sure the Roy was really safe now the threat was now over. She turned her head and stared at the door as several ICU nurses rushed past. The need to see Roy and reassure herself that he was safe was just to great to ignore and she turned back to Steve,  lightly brushing an errant strand of hair back off his forehead before she grabbed his hand and gave it a light squeeze. Leaning down, she whispered into his ear, “I’ll be right back, Sweetie, I promise.”

Straightening back up, she turned and hurried to the door before she stepped out into the corridor and cautiously looked around. Several nurses and doctors were hurrying across to where Steve’s father was lying, handcuffed on the floor, bleeding from what she assumed was a gunshot wound. Edging a little nearer, she gasped as she stared down at Brian’s pale face, now half covered with the oxygen mask that the nurse had slid gently over his face. It was easy to see the close family resemblance shared between Steve and his father.

Looking up as she saw Roy hesitate in front of Mike’s door before he entered the room as two police officers entered the ICU, their guns drawn, ready for any potential threat.

“Its okay, Guys, your lieutenant already has the situation under control,” one of the doctors called out, glancing over his shoulder towards the two officers before he knelt and turned his attention back to the injured man on the floor.

Edging her way past Brian and the medical staff who were working on him, she followed her husband into Mike’s room.

“Mike?” Squinting in the dim light at the motionless figure in the bed, Roy quickly crossed to bed, “Mike?”

A soft moan answered him, and he gave a soft sigh of relief as he found himself looking down at Mike’s pained-pinched, worried face looking back up at him as he reached the side of the bed. Reaching for the bed’s overhead light switch, he flicked it on as he turned and began to visually look Mike over, searching for any signs of blood or injury as he asked worriedly, “Mike, are you okay?”

Mike swallowed hard and nodded as he tried to ignore the white-hot bolts of agony that flared out from his back and radiated up through his injured leg, leaving him feeling lightheaded and nauseous. “I’m...I’m okay, he missed,” he gasped out through gritted teeth as he reached up for Roy’s sleeve to ensure he had his friend’s total attention before he asked fearfully, “What…what about Steve? Is… he okay?”

“He’s sound asleep, Mike!” Sandra announced from the doorway, stretching the truth a little as she turned on the room's overhead light, bathing the room in its bright fluorescent light. “He slept right through all the excitement, didn’t even stir,” she smiled as she walked across to the side of the bed.  Reaching for Mike’s hand, she gave it a light, re-assuring squeeze. “He’s safe, Mike, don’t worry,” she smiled as she cast a side-ward glance at Roy before glancing at the small bullet hole a little higher in the wall then the height of the bed’s railings that Roy staring at.

She tried to push away the realization of just how close Steve’s father, in his drunken rage, had come to murdering Mike in his hospital bed. Looking back down at Mike, she squeezed his hand hard, “And so are you.”

“What… what about … Keller?”  Mike gasped breathlessly, his concern for his young friend, greater then the concern for his own safety as he looked up at Roy and tried hard to warn him, “Don’t…don’t let him ... anywhere near…Steve. He…he…”

“Don’t worry about Keller tonight, Mike, the only place he will be going is the operating room and then he will be handcuffed to a bed, closely guarded by one our guys when he goes to recovery.” Roy re-assured his friend before he glanced over his shoulder, just in time to see a stretcher bearing Brian Keller and surrounded by medical staff being rushed past the doorway. Turning back to Mike, he quietly explained, uncertain of how coherent Mike was with all the pain medication or if Mike would even remember most of what had just happened in the morning, “He took a nurse hostage and then started shooting, I had to put a round in his chest to take him down.”

Mike swallowed hard and nodded remembering the blurry image he had awoken to of Brian Keller standing in his doorway, holding a nurse while demanding to see Steve replayed over in his fuzzy mind.

A light knock at the door, caught Roy’s attention and he turned to see a young uniformed officer standing there.

“Umm, excuse me, Lieutenant, but I think you might want to see this,” the officer quietly announced, nodding down at the white envelope he was holding with a handkerchief in his hand.

“I’ll be right back.” Roy told Mike and his wife before he turned and hurried to the door where the officer was waiting.

Reaching the officer, Roy carefully took the handkerchief and the envelope that the officer offered him and frowned as he felt some weight inside it, “What’s this?”

“We found this in the bag the shooter was carrying, Sir, it’s addressed to Inspector Keller,” the officer informed him softly as Roy carefully lifted the envelope’s flap and peered inside, unable to stop the surprised gasp that escaped from between his lips as he stared at the folded piece of paper and precious stones inside. “I thought you would want to see it right away.”

Roy nodded silently as he stepped out into the corridor and closed the door to Mike’s room behind him before he hurried across to the nurse’s desk and placed the envelope down. “Have you read the note?” Roy asked as he carefully removed the sheet of paper from the envelope and began to unfold it.

“No, Sir, as soon as I saw the diamonds, I thought I better hand it over to you.” The officer answered as he watched the Homicide Lieutenant’s eyes grow wide as he read the letter.

“Thanks,” Roy murmured distractedly, waiting until the officer moved away before he re-read the letter, scrawled in Brian Keller’s messy, almost illegible handwriting. Swallowing hard, he could taste the sour bile that rose in the back of his throat as he re-folded the letter and put it back into the envelope before he slowly turned and stared at Steve’s ICU room.


	35. Chapter 35

Keeping her light, hopefully comforting, hold on Mike’s hand, Sandra frowned, turning slightly to watch as her husband hurried from the room, dodging around the nurse entering as he reached the doorway. Forcing a small smile, she turned back to the injured man in the bed as the nurse quickly glanced up at the figures flashing on the machine before gently lifting away the sheet the Mike had entangled himself with and checking his surgical dressings and many bruises.

Sandra felt Mike’s hand tighten around her as he tried hard not to moan and pull away when the nurse quickly shone a torch in first one eye and then the other.

“Almost done,” the nurse murmured gently, acutely aware that her patient was in pain as she popped a thermometer under his tongue before she carefully palpated his stomach with her fingers, hearing Mike’s soft groan as the tender area was prodded. Feeling no significant rigidity, she straightened up and removed the thermometer, lifting the narrow glass tubing up towards the light, nodding to herself, before she flicked her wrist several times, forcing the mercury in the thin glass tube to return to the tube’s bulb before placing it back into the small kidney tray on the table next to the bed.

Satisfied her patient had not been injured further or aggravated his already serious injuries, she carefully readjusted the sheet, covering him to his chest before she told him softly that she was going to give him something for the pain.

“No…no, I …don’t want…anything,” Mike protested weakly as he looked up pleadingly at Sandra, his grip on her hand tightening even more, “Steve…”

“Shh, shhh, Mike, try and rest.” Sandra tried to soothe the upset man, still clutching his hand as she placed her other hand against his cheek as the nurse quickly drew up some medication from a transparent glass vial and injected it into the IV line.

“Please … promise me…don’t won’t let … Keller nnnear… Sssteve,” Mike mumbled, almost incoherently, as his voice trailed away and his eyes slowly drifted closed as the nurse finished injecting the mild sedative the doctor had ordered into his IV port.

“We won’t, Mike, I promise,” Sandra whispered as she lightly squeezed his hand, “Steve’s safe, Mike, his father won’t get anywhere near him.”

Re-sheaving the used needle and dropping it into the small green kidney dish, the nurse quickly glanced up at the heart monitor above the bed, satisfied with what she saw before she looked across the bed at Sandra and smiled, “I just gave him something for the pain and to help him relax, he should sleep for the rest of the night.”

“Thank you,” Sandra murmured, still holding Mike’s hand as she watched the nurse write on the chart notes clipped to the clipboard that was hanging at the end of the bed.

The nurse smiled and nodded, “Why don’t you try and get a few hours sleep? Or can I get you a cup of coffee? It’s not the best coffee around, in fact, to be honest, it probably tastes a little bit like toxic sludge by now…”

Sandra shook her head, “I’m good.”

“Well if you change your mind, just let me know,” the nurse told her softly before turning and leaving the room, side stepping around the puddle of blood where Brian Keller had fallen in the corridor.

Turning back to Mike, Sandra watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest until she was satisfied that he was truly asleep. Carefully placing his hand back down onto the bed, she stroked his cheek lightly again as she whispered to the now unconscious man, “I’m going to check on Steve, Mike, I promise I will be back soon.”

Turning she walk to the door and paused, frowning, as she saw Roy standing next to the nurse’s desk, holding a bulky looking envelope in his hand as he stared at Steve’s room. Her frown deepened as Roy quickly glanced around before he looked back down at the envelope and opened it. Intrigued by her husband’s strange clandestine behavior, she silently watched as Roy removed a folded piece of paper and slipped it into his pocket before quickly closing the envelope again as the ICU doors opened and more officers arrived.


	36. Chapter 36

Roy turned and sighed as he saw the two IA officers hurry through the ICU doors and look around. He knew that I.A. would be called to investigate his shooting of Brian Keller, he had just not expected them to arrive so fast. He blinked in surprise as he slowly looked around and noticed for the first time just how many uniformed and how many of his own homicide team were already here, already taking statements from the staff, bagging and tagging evidence, and kicking off the intense investigation that any cop shooting causes. He licked his lips as he realized that some of them had probably been waiting out in the waiting room for some sort of update of their two colleagues when the shooting had occurred, and that was probably the reason why the two-armed uniform officers had rushed in, almost immediately after the gunfire.  

Watching the two IA men as they spoke to the officer who was now guarding the ICU entrance door, who then turned and pointed towards him, he jumped as he felt a small familiar hand lightly touched his shoulder before he heard Amanda whisper into his ear, “The nurse gave Mike something for the pain and to help him sleep until morning.”

Roy nodded and patted Amanda’s hand as he continued to watch the two A.I men as they walked towards him.

“Roy, is everything okay?” she asked softly as she felt the tension in her husband’s body.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Roy murmured distractedly, unconsciously reaching into his pocket and pushing the letter a little deeper inside as he eyed the two IA officer approaching him. Turning to his wife, he forced a small smile, “Listen Sweetheart, I have some work to do. Why don’t you go and sit with Steve and I will join you as soon as I can.”

Looking at the two IA officers who had joined them beside the nurse’s desk, Sandra hesitated for a moment before reluctantly nodding and walking away. She paused as she reached the door to Steve’s hospital room and glanced back at her husband who had turned back his back to her and was now talking softly to the two IA officers. Biting her bottom lip with worry, she turned and walked into the room, wondering about the piece of paper that she had seen Roy place into his pocket and why Roy had just blatantly lied to her. Turning back to look at the unconscious man in the bed, she also wondered about the young man’s past and why no one seemed to have known anything about his father even being alive until the last few tortuous days.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Turning back to the two IA officers, Roy waited a heartbeat until he knew his wife had left before he nodded and said, “Nat, Paul, I wasn’t expecting you to get here so quickly.”

Glancing around at the officers who were softly questioning the shaken medical staff and the pool of blood, currently being photographed by a police photographer near the door of one of the ICU rooms, before returning his attention back to the Homicide lieutenant standing in front of him, Nat Schreiner sighed, “We heard about what happened to Stone and Keller and then when we got the report about a cop involved shooting here in the ICU…”

“You knew it just had to be related.”

“Yeah,” Nat sighed again as he glanced over Roy’s shoulder at the room where he had seen Roy’s wife go into before he looked back at Roy and asked, “How are Keller and Stone? Word on the grapevine is they are not doing too good.”

“Mike’s critical but stable, he took a round in the back and was busted up some before we could rescue him, the docs say his recovery could be a long one but he’s looking good for a full recovery.” Roy began slowly.

“And Keller?”

“It’s touch and go at the moment, the docs just don’t know.” Roy answered honestly.

“I heard that his father was somehow involved in what happened?” Paul Anderson frowned as he grabbed Roy’s arm and led him away from the nurse’s desk and to a more secluded area away from all the activity, so nobody could overhear their conversation.

“He’s responsible for this whole mess and was the reason behind both Mike and Steve being grabbed.” Roy rubbed his hand over the top of his head, glancing back down the corridor in the direction from which they had just come, at Mike’s and Steve’s rooms “And he’s the man I shot tonight, after he turned up drunk and took a nurse hostage, threatening to kill her if he wasn’t allowed to see Steve. He didn’t leave me with any other option than to take him down after he started shooting.”

Nat nodded, “I spoke to some of the officers at the door, they confirmed that so far the witnesses’ versions of events indicate that this was a justifiable shooting, Roy, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. But you know the procedure, I’m afraid I will have to take your badge and gun until our investigation is done.”

Roy shrugged in acceptance of the lightly given order as he reached into his pocket and removed his police ID/badge case and handed it over, before he removed his gun and holster, handing them across to the senior IA officer.

 Anderson’s frown deepened as he jotted down everything Roy was telling them into his notebook before casting a quick side-ward glance at his partner. Returning his attention back to the man standing in front of him after Homicide Lieutenant’s badge and weapon had been surrendered, he asked, “I don’t understand, I was told that Keller had escaped and was on the run. Why would he risk coming here to see his son? From what I have heard, no one even knew that Keller’s father was even alive until everything went down. Is it possible that Steve was somehow also involved in whatever his father was into?”

“No, no!” Roy quickly rushed to his young inspector’s defence, “All our investigations so far and from the statement I was given by Keller, himself, after we arrested him indicate that Steve has not had any contact with his father since his mother’s death in a car accident several years ago.” Roy shifted uncomfortable as he looked around, reassuring himself that what he was about to say could not be overheard before he dropped his voice to just above a soft whisper as he added reluctantly, “His father was driving, drunk, the accident itself was ruled as a vehicular manslaughter, but…”

“But?” Nat pushed.

“Brian Keller had several prior convictions for DUI … and domestic violence.”

“Against his wife?” Paul asked, as he realized where this conversation was going.

Roy nodded slowly as he added quietly, “Also, against his son. At the time of the accident Steve’s parents were separated, and Steve had just gone away to University…”

“And Steve believes-” Nat breathed, finally understanding why Roy believed that there would be no chance of father and son being involved in any crime or anything else together.

Roy nodded again, “I don’t think Steve has ever told anyone about his childhood or the circumstances surrounding his mother’s death, except Mike, and how much or just how little he has actually told Mike is anyone guess, only Mike can tell us that and I doubt Mike would ever tell us whatever Steve has told him in confidence. But what we do know is after Keller was released from jail, he was trying to contact his son, he told me that he just wanted to make things right between him and Steve, but Mike found out that Keller was trying to contact his son and we believe Mike tried to run interference.”

“And what about the kidnappings?”

“Keller’s a con man, through and through, with no other interest about anything or anyone else, other than make easy money with very little effort. While in jail, he was cellmates with Sam Quintin.”

“Isn’t that the guy who robbed the diamond exchange a few years ago?” Paul paused in taking notes as he looked back at Roy.

“That’s the guy. Keller told us that he had promised Quintin that he would retrieve the diamonds from their hiding place when he was released and hold them for Quintin until Quintin made his escape.”

“But he got greedy.” Nat breathed, having seen the same scenario happen again and again between criminals.

“We found half of the diamonds in Keller’s possession during his arrest,” Roy lifted up the envelope he held in his hand, minus the letter it had contained, and handed it across to Nat, who glanced at the name written on the front before he opened the flap and glanced at the contents, giving a soft whistle of surprise as he stared at the shining stones within as Roy continued, “And we found these in the bag he brought to the hospital which he had also hidden the gun.”

“The envelope is addressed to Steve.” Nat looked up at Roy as he passed the envelope across to his partner to see, “Any idea why?”

 “Who knows! We know that Keller doesn’t care about his son, his violence placed Steve in the hospital more than once when Steve was a child. We also know that Keller blamed Mike’s interference for everything going wrong with his little scheme of ripping off the diamonds, and he seems to have the belief that Mike is trying to take his place as Steve’s father figure. Maybe he believes that if he can implicate Steve in his scheme, he can punish Mike.” Roy shrugged, as his hand slid into his pocket and he fingered the letter hidden there as his attention was drawn to the surgeon who was still dressed in his blue surgical scrubs hurry down the corridor towards them as he added, “I guess that the only one who can tell us the reason why Steve’s name is on the envelope is Brian Keller himself, when he gets out of surgery.”

“I’m afraid that Mr Keller won’t be answering any of your questions, Lieutenant,” the surgeon announced breathlessly, hearing only the last part of the whispered conversation between the three men as he reached them. “He died on the operating table five minutes ago.”


	37. Chapter 37

Sandra turned her head and gently kissed the familiar, gentle hand that she felt settle on her shoulder.

“How is he?” Roy asked softly as he stared at the motionless man in the bed.

“No change,” Sandra sighed, tilting her head until her cheek rested on her husband’s hand as she looked back at Steve, and added, “But at least he’s seems to be holding his own at the moment.” Lifting her head as she looked up at her husband, she asked, “Are the I.A guys gone?”

Roy nodded as he sat down in the chair next to hers, “They left about an hour ago. I gave them my initial statement about what happened, but I will have to go in later this morning and give them my full written statement. I’ve already handed over my gun and badge and I guess I will be back on desk duty for the next few days until they finish the investigation of the shooting ... especially when the shooting was fatal.”

“He died?” Sandra gasped in surprise.

“A couple of hours ago on the operating table.”

“But you will be cleared, won’t you? I mean you didn’t really have a choice, if you hadn’t shot …” Sandra swallowed hard as she threw a quick glance towards Steve before she looked back at Roy and lowered her voice to a very soft whisper, “Was that really Steve’s father?... I mean… I guess I always thought-”

“We all did.” Roy told her quietly.

“But why would Steve…”

“He had his reasons, Sweetheart,” Roy answered her partially asked question evasively. Roy sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose, suddenly feeling extremely tired and old. Reaching into his pocket, he fingered the folded piece of paper still hidden there as he looked back at Steve and murmured, almost as if he was talking to himself, “He had his reasons…”

Biting her bottom lip, Sandra frowned and nodded slowly, aware that Roy’s answer meant that it was really none of her business. Turning back towards the bed, Sandra remembered listening to Keller’s drunken shouted demands and threats during his attempt to see his son and Mike’s own fears of Keller getting anywhere close to Steve and Roy’s own refusal of telling her why Steve had been so secretive with them about his father suddenly made so much sense. Her heart skipped a beat as a disturbing thought popped into her mind, one that she unable to push away, the timing was just too co-incidental. Looking sidewards at her silent husband in the dim light of the overhead bed light, she asked softly, “His father somehow is involved in this whole mess, isn’t he? He’s somehow the reason for everything that’s happened.”

Without taking his eyes off Steve, Roy gave her a terse small nod, “Yeah, he was.”

“Do you think Steve knows?” Sandra asked, returning her attention back to the unconscious man in the bed.

“About what his father was up to or that his father was involved in what happened to both Mike and him?”

“Both I guess.” Sandra frowned, aware that there was so much about what had happened to Steve and Mike that she still didn’t know about.

Roy shook his head, “I think Steve was totally blind-sided. I doubt when he was grabbed he even had a clue what was going on…”

“And Mike?”

 “I think Mike had his suspicions but to be honest, I don’t think he even realized the danger they were in,” Roy stared at the window that was now stained with a light pink hue by the rising sun as he sighed, “until it was too late.”


	38. Chapter 38

Mike wasn’t sure just what had woken him, whether it was the pain that seemed to emanate from all parts of his body, or the dull headache and low-grade fever he instinctively knew he was running, or the high-pitched sound of some kind of alarm from another room somewhere close to his own and the sound of running feet. Forcing his eyes open, he blinked in the muted daylight that now lit his room and turned his head slightly, looking towards his limited view of the door as a collection of jumbled memories of what had happened during the last few days slowly returned, ending with Brian Keller’s drunken demands and threats to see his son and subsequent shooting outside his door just hours ago. “Steve!” he gasped as he reached desperately for the bed rail in an attempt to sit up.

“Hey, whoa there, where do you think you are going?” The surgeon asked as he grabbed his patient by the shoulders and gently pushed him back against the pillows. “Your partner’s safe, he’s in the room next door, resting, just like you are supposed to be doing.” The surgeon smiled as he straightened up, leaving one hand resting on Mike’s shoulder, “In fact, Lieutenant, I’ve just finished examining him and his condition has stabilized overnight. It was touch and go there for a few hours …”

“How … bad?” Mike gasped as his injured ribs protested painfully at the very act of drawing a deeper breath to speak.

“You want to know just how badly you are injured?” the doctor asked gently.

Mike weakly shook his head, “No… not me…S…steve.”

“Ah, of course, I should have known that’s who you are asking about,” the doctor shook his head in amusement after previously being warned by the other Homicide lieutenant, that would probably be the first question out of his patient’s mouth when he awoke.  Walking to the end of the bed, he carefully checked the system of ropes, weights, and pullies which kept his patient’s broken leg suspended in the air. Gently touching Mike’s toes with the back of his hand to help check the leg’s circulation, he looked back at Mike, “He’s still listed as critical but has been upgraded to stable.” He paused a heartbeat before he began his report of Steve’s condition to the worried man in the bed, “As you probably already know, your partner was severely beaten.”

Mike swallowed hard and nodded as the battered image of Steve pushing him away, begging him to run, as they tried to make their escape, flashed vividly through his mind.

“He suffered several broken ribs, a broken arm, and cheekbone, as well as a concussion because of the beating, but unfortunately one of the broken ribs perforated his right lung and caused it to collapse and the right side of his chest to fill with blood.” The doctor momentarily hesitated, deciding to skip over the Inspector flat-lining during surgery due to the pressure of the blood that had collected in his chest, preventing it from beating, as he saw the fear in his patient’s face. Quickly rushing on, to reassure the lieutenant, he continued, “But we were able to repair the lung and I am pleased to say that it is slowly re-inflating. He is heavily sedated at the moment and we are monitoring his condition closely for any complications or bleeding,  but if he continues to improve as well as he has overnight, we will start to lower the sedation and allow him to wake up this afternoon.”

Mike nodded again as he pushed the light sheet that covered him, off, suddenly feeling too hot as he shifted uncomfortably in the bed as the doctor walked back up to the head of the bed and reached for the thermometer, that was in a kidney dished filled with sterilizing liquid on the table next to the bed. “What…what about… Brian…Keller?” Mike panted breathlessly, finding it hard to draw in a deep enough breath to talk.

Holding the glass thermometer in his hand, the doctor gave three fast, quick flicks of his wrist to force the mercury in the thermometer back down into the bulb before he slipped it under Mike’s tongue. Gently grabbing Mike’s wrist, he took Mike’s pulse as his eyes drifting to the puckered bullet hole in the wall as he answered Mike’s question “Mr Keller was shot in the chest last night by your lieutenant after he held a nurse hostage, and then tried to shoot up the ward. I’m afraid that he died on the operating table, there was nothing that we could do.”

 Lowering Mike’s arm back to rest on the bed, the surgeon reached across to remove the thermometer before quickly glancing at the reading.  Satisfied that even though his patient was running a low- grade fever, it was not high enough to be concerned about, he placed the thermometer back into the sterilizing liquid as he added, “I am sure that the lieutenant will fill you in on all the details when you are feeling a little stronger. But before he gives you any full detailed reports about the shooting or what happened to you and your partner yesterday, how about we take you back to the OR and set your leg correctly.” The doctor lightly patted Mike’s arm, adding, “And, maybe, just maybe, if your partner improves enough today to be woken up, I might even consider breaking hospital protocol and placing you both in a shared step-down room, after you return from surgery. That way we can continue to monitor you both closely and you will rest instead of worrying about your partner’s condition.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Mike whispered.

Looking back over his shoulder, the doctor nodded at the young woman standing in the doorway that it was okay for her to enter before he returned his attention back to his patient and smiled, “I will make the arrangements to take you back into the OR to fix your leg but first I think a young lady would like to say hello to her dad.”

Turning, he stepped around Jeannie as she stepped timidly to the side of the bed. “I’m afraid you can only have five minutes and then we will be getting him ready to go back into surgery,” he told her quietly before he headed towards the door.

“Thank you,” Jeannie smiled shyly as she turned and watched the surgeon leave the room before she turned back and leaned down to kiss Mike’s cheek, her arms hugging him as tightly as she dared as she whispered, “Oh, Daddy! Have I told you how much I love you!”


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

Jumping in surprise as she felt someone brush against her, Sandra opened her eyes and watched as Jeannie reached the side of the bed and stood motionless, looking down at Steve, her hand hovering uncertainly above his.

"You won't hurt him if you want to hold his hand, in fact he would probably like to know that you are here." Sandra told Jeannie softly as she tried to discreetly rub her eyes, attempting to chase away the lingering tendrils of sleep from her mind, surprised that she must have drifted off to sleep after Roy had left and the doctor had checked on Steve.

"How…how is he?" Jeannie whispered, making no move to hold Steve's.

"The doctor said that his condition has not only stabilized but has also improved a little, overnight," Sandra smiled as she sat up a little higher in the chair and looked across at the young man in the bed, relieved that she could finally see some color in his pale face, instead of the grey complexion she had seen earlier. "The doctor also said that hopefully, later today, if he keeps improving, they will lower his sedation and allow him to wake up."

Jeannie nodded as she continued to stare down at Steve as her hand continued to hover above his, "That's what the doctor told Mike…"

Watching the young girl closely, Sandra frowned, "How is Mike? I was going to try and slip back into his room to see him after the doctor finished making his rounds, but I guess I dozed off."

Jeannie swallowed hard as she blinked away the tears that threatened to fall, "He's doing much better. They're just preparing him to take him back into to surgery to fix his leg. The doctor told him that after he gets out of recovery and if Steve continues to improve, they will move both of them into a shared room, so they can be together."

Sandra nodded, "Good, after everything that's happened, they are both going to-"

"Did you know Steve's dad was alive? He was one who was responsible for everything that happened to Mike, yesterday. I…I overheard two officers talking in the elevator about how he tried to kill Mike again last night, right here in the hospital…" Jeannie whispered, her voice cracking as she continued to stare at Steve. "Steve's Mike's partner, and Mike's supposed to be able to trust him. I... I just don't understand. Steve must have known what his father was up to and that his father could be dangerous! He had to!"

"Sweetheart-" Sandra began, rising to her feet.

"Why didn't he warn Mike?" Jeannie asked as she turned back to look at Sandra as the tears began to roll down her face as the fear, anger, and terror of the last twenty-four hours boiled over and spilled out, "Why did he let us all believe his father was dead?"

Grabbing Jeannie's hands, Sandra gave them a light squeeze as she shook her head and gently led Jeannie to one of the chairs before nodding for her to sit down, aware that emotions that Jeannie was dealing with was not actually directed at the young man in the bed but at what had happened and the unanswered questions that she desperately needed answers to. Even though Sandra did not yet have many of the answers Jeannie needed, she needed to contain and redirect the understandable anger and fear that Jeannie was feeling after learning of the murder attempt on her critically ill father the night before from Steve and onto the person who deserved it, Steve's father.

Sitting in the other chair, she turned and faced Jeannie, still holding Jeannie's hand with one hand as she reached up and lovingly removed a stray strand of hair back from Jeannie's face. "Listen Sweetheart, I know you are upset and scared about everything that has happened, and I do understand just how you are feeling, but you need to understand that what happened yesterday wasn't Steve's fault.

I don't know why Steve never talked about his father or why he let us believe that his father was dead or maybe, we all just assumed his dad was dead because he never spoke about him. Roy told me Steve had his reasons but whatever happened between them, Roy's right, he told me that it's Steve's business and not ours.

Now, I don't know what just happened yesterday but from the little I have been told by Roy, he believes that Steve did not even know that his father was in San Francisco, but Roy thinks Mike did, and that Mike might have been trying to protect Steve by trying to stop Steve's father from contacting him. And that tells me, Jeannie, that Steve did tell Mike about his father, but just how much and what Steve told him is between Steve and Mike.

But what I do know, is Roy told me that the surviving suspect told them that Mike and Steve tried hard to protect each other. The suspect said that Steve, even though he was badly beaten, still risked his life trying to give Mike a chance to escape and Mike was shot because he refused to leave Steve behind. And last night, after even after everything that has happened, when Steve's father turned up here drunk, armed with a gun, and took a nurse hostage before demanding to see Steve, Mike risked his life again, trying to protect Steve. He called out to get Steve's father's attention when Steve's father was demanding to see Steve and when Steve's father turned and tried to shoot Mike, Roy had no choice but to take him out." Glancing across at the unconscious man in the bed, Sandra lowered her voice to a whisper, "I don't know if you know but Steve's father died on the operating table a couple of hours ago."

Squeezing Jeannie's hand, a little harder, as she saw Jeannie's eyes grow wide and saw Jeannie glance across at Steve, she continued gently, "I'm guessing that somehow Steve and Mike realized that Steve's father was involved in their kidnappings while they were being held together. Roy told me that after they rescued Steve, Steve was blaming himself for what happened to Mike. He already feels responsible for his father's actions, he doesn't need us holding him responsible for his father's actions as well.

We also need to try and remember, that even though it looks like Steve's father was behind everything that happened, and no matter what ever happened between them, or how distant or close they might have been, he was still Steve's father, and Steve has just lost him on top of everything else that has happened." Sandra waited until Jeannie turned back towards her before she gently added, "Sweetheart, Steve is just as much a victim as Mike is, and he is going to need all our love and support to get through this, especially yours and Mike's. The two of you are the only family that Steve has now, do you think you can do that?"

Biting her bottom lip, Jeannie nodded, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand, as she turned to look at Steve again, suddenly feeling extremely guilty and a little ashamed that she could even blame Steve for what had happened, "You're right, this wasn't Steve's fault. Oh God, I'm sorry, I don't know why I even said that..."

Sandra gave her a small smile as she placed an arm around Jeannie's shoulder and pulled her closer, laying her head on top of Jeannie's as she returned her attention back to the young man in the bed, "I do, the last day or so has been scary and confusing. First, believing that we had lost both Mike and Steve, and then after the relief of finding out that they were alive, the fear that we still might lose Steve."

"But I still shouldn't have …" Jeannie whispered guiltily.

"You were just scared, and you were upset after you heard about what happened here last night and who was responsible, and you were just lashing out," Sandra tried to reassure Jeannie that her reaction was natural as she lifted up her head and looked at the young scared girl sitting beside her as she said quietly, "And you just lashed out at the wrong person. We all make mistakes, but the most important thing now is that we are here for both Steve and your father. They are going to need us now more than ever to help them both with their recoveries."


	40. Chapter 40

Grabbing the mug of coffee, Roy lifted it to his lips, grimacing in disgust as he swallowed the last cold dregs of the thick, cold, black sludge. It was just the perfect way to finish of a very long morning full of paperwork, I.A interviews and numerous questions from the brass above not only about the fatal shooting of Brian Keller at the hospital overnight, which he had been assured would most likely be ruled as justifiable, but also the events that led up to it. The primary question appeared to be just how deeply Steve was involved in everything that had happened leading up to the kidnappings and if Mike knew anything about what his partner had potentially been up to with his father or Quintin.

Placing the mug back down on the desk, Roy sighed, only too aware of the questioning that he had endured today was going to be ten-fold worse for Mike and Steve. Although he was confident that both Mike and Steve would also be cleared of any wrong-doing, he knew that next few days for partners and friends were going to be extremely challenging, both emotionally and mentally, especially for Steve.

His fingers drifted down to his pocket as his thoughts drifted to the younger man and he pulled out the letter that he had slipped into it earlier. Pulling the letter free, he carefully unfolded it and re-read its contents. A cold chill rippled through his soul as he re-read Brian’s final words to his son. He just could not believe that a father, any father, could be so incredibly cruel to their child, to blame their own son for being responsible for the things that he had done, and then claim that he did what he did only because of his love for Steve.

He swallowed hard, his hand shaking with anger, as he roughly folded the letter back up and shoved it back into his pants pocket, deciding that the best thing to do with it would be to burn it when he got home. Reading the vile letter was the last thing, after everything his father had made him endure through his life, that Steve really needed. And he could not risk anyone else reading it, Brian’s claims and obviously drunk ramblings in the letter and the diamonds he had attempted to leave could be too easily misconstrued as a confession by Brian of his son’s supposed guilt by anyone investigating not only Brian’s past but also the events of the last two days.

Pushing away from his desk, he turned and grabbed his coat from the coat rack in the corner of the office as he promised himself that this weekend when the boys came home from University, he was going to hug them tight and make sure they knew just how much he loved them.

Shrugging into his coat, he turned towards the door, tugging at his coat and straightening it up so it fell properly as it snagged on something. He stopped his egress from the room as he looked back up and saw Nat Schreiner standing in the doorway, watching him. “Nat,” he sighed tiredly, “I thought I have finished answering all of your questions.”

The I.A officer gave a quick tired smile and nodded, “You have, Roy, for now. But that’s not why I’m here.”

Roy frowned and said nothing as he began to button up his coat and waited for Nat to continue.

“I just wanted to catch you before you left to let you know that Sandra called while you were in with the Chief, so they transferred her call across to me. She wanted to tell you that Mike has just come out of surgery to set his broken leg and that the surgeon said the surgery went well. The surgeon told Jeannie that with some rest and a lot of physiotherapy, he should regain the full use of his leg.”

“Thank God,” Roy smiled with relief as he took a few more steps towards the door.

“Hold it, Roy, I’m afraid that’s not the only reason why I came down to see you,” Nat sighed as he took a couple of steps into the office, stopping Roy before he could step past him and leave. He waited until he had Roy’s full attention again before he added, “Look, Roy, Sandra also told me that you had spoken to the surgeon and had convinced him to move Steve and Mike into the same room when Steve was stable enough and after Mike’s surgery.”

“That’s right,” Roy’s eyes narrowed slightly with suspicion as he stared at the other man, “Everyone knows how close Mike and Steve have become since becoming partners, I just think that they are going to need each other now, more than ever, to help each other recover and move on after everything that has happened… “

Nat nodded his agreement, “I agree one hundred percent, Roy, but I’m afraid that for the moment, Steve and Mike sharing a room is just not going to happen-”

“Nat-” Roy began to protest.

“Now Roy, I have already copped heat from both Jeannie and Sandra for having to put my foot down and nixing your plans. But we both already know that until our investigation is done, they can’t see each other until we do their individual interviews about what happened and get their independent statements.” Nat reminded Roy firmly before he lightly touched Roy on the arm, “Look, Roy, we both know that this whole case has turned into a media circus, first with a young Homicide inspector presumed dead after a fiery crash in his unmarked police car and then the case turning into the kidnapping and torture case of not only that officer, but his senior partner as well, all linked to a diamond heist that happened several years ago where the loot was never recovered.

Add into that juicy mixture, not only is an escaped prisoner also involved but Keller’s own father, who was also up to his neck in this whole mess, and who I don’t think I have to remind you, was later shot and killed by one by yet another Homicide officer while trying to get to see his son.

What a story! The press is already clamoring for every juicy little detail, every little scrap that they can use to turn this into one hell of a soap-time drama, full of intrigue, drama and possible police corruption and starring the Homicide officers of San Francisco police department.

Look, we both know that Keller and Stone are innocent, I have already read the jacket we have on Brian Keller and to be frank, Roy, I would have personally loved to have got my hands around that man’s neck for what he did to not only his wife but also his son.  But if we are going to save both the San Francisco P.D’s reputation and Mike’s and Steve’s careers and prove to the public that both Steve and Mike were not any involvement in any of this mess other than being innocent victims, then we have to do this investigation by the book and if that means separating them until we do our interviews, then, God damn it, Roy,  that’s what I am going to do!”

Roy sighed and nodded. “You’re right, Nat,” he agreed unhappily.

Squeezing Roy’s arm, a little tighter, Nat tried to reassure the upset officer, “Look, I promise as soon as I have finished my interviews with both Mike and Steve, and we have their statements, I will be the first one insisting that they are allowed to share a room.”

Roy nodded, unconvinced of the I.A’ officer’s promise as he shrugged free of Nat’s light hold and asked, “Is that all?”

 “Yeah, that’s all,” Nat nodded as Roy stepped around him and walked out of the small office without saying another word.

Watching the angry Homicide lieutenant leave, Nat ran a hand over his face. This was the part of the job he hated the most, not the catching the bad cops and weeding them out, but having to investigate the good ones under the suspicious eyes of his angry colleagues who always seemed to believe that he just wanted to find every cop he was investigating guilty when in fact, he always hoped he could clear them of any wrong-doing.

 Sighing as he looked down, Nat frowned, as he found himself looking at a partially unfolded piece of paper that must have fallen out of Roy’s pocket as Roy had been putting on his coat. Reaching down, he picked the piece of paper, unconsciously tapping it against his other hand as he looked back up and stared at the now empty doorway.


	41. Chapter 41

“Nat!” Nat watched as his partner hurried into Roy’s small office to join him. The excited look on Paul’s face, and the way he clutched his open notebook in his hand, instantly told the senior IA officer that his partner had discovered some new evidence. “I checked with the prison if Keller had any contact with his father or Quintin while they were in prison.” Paul announced as he joined his partner.

“And?” Nat asked, distractedly putting the folded piece of paper into his pocket, intending to return it to Roy, the next time he saw the officer, as he walked out of the office with his partner.

“The warden said that Keller had no contact at all with either his father or Quintin during the whole time his father was incarcerated, in fact, the warden told me that Keller even refused to accept any of his father’s phone calls. He had the impression that Keller wanted nothing more to do with his father, not that I can blame him.”

Nat nodded, not in the least surprised by the confirmation of what they had already been told by Roy.

“But, get this,” Paul rushed on excitably, “the warden did tell me that Keller did have one interesting visitor who contacted him, asking questions about Brian Keller, and then visited with Keller just a few days before he was paroled.”

“Who?” Nat asked, asked intrigued as they reached the elevator and he stabbed the elevator call button.

“A certain homicide lieutenant,” Paul nodded his affirmation, snapping closed his notebook, as Nat turned and stared at him as the elevator doors slide open, “Mike Stone.”

“Stone?” Nat breathed in disbelief as they stepped into the elevator before he glanced across at his partner in disbelief as they turned to and he hit the button for the ground floor, “Are you sure?”

Paul nodded again, “Positive, but to make sure I had the warden send across a copy of the visitor’s log for that day and had Charlie compare Stone’s signature. He confirmed it, beyond a doubt, the signature on the page of the visitor’s log is definitely the signature of Lieutenant Michael Stone.”

“Does the warden know the reason behind Stone’s visit?” Nat frowned as he watched the doors slowly slide closed before he felt the familiar jolt of the elevator before it began its descent.

“No, but he does remember the guards telling him that Keller seemed to have been extremely anxious and agitated after the visit.”

“Hmmm.” Nat’s frown deepened.

“So, it got me thinking about Yates' statement, after his arrest yesterday, about Steve being grabbed in an attempt to force his father and Stone to hand over the diamonds they had stolen from Quintin…“ Paul continued as the elevator abruptly stopped and the doors opened before they stepped out and he followed his partner through the lobby towards the exit to the parking lot.

“Are you trying to say, Paul, that you think that Yates may be telling the truth and that Mike Stone, and not Steve Keller, could be up to his neck in this whole mess?” Nat stopped and looked at his partner as they reached their car.

“Just think about it for a minute, Nat, Stone would have known all about the diamond heist, who was involved, and the missing diamonds.” Paul continued as he opened the car door and climbed into the passenger side as Nat opened his door and slid behind the steering wheel. Closing the car door, Paul turned his head to look at his partner as he continued with his theory, “And what if Stone somehow found about Brian Keller’s imprisonment, probably after Steve opened up to him about his childhood and what happened to his mother, and then somehow discovered that Steve’s father cell mate was Quintin-”

“Go on…” Nat said quietly.

“We both know just how hard it can be to live on a cop’s wage, even if you are a lieutenant, and we know that Stone has a kid who is studying at university and we both know how expensive that can be.  So, what if Stone saw a way of easing that burden.” Paul paused a moment as he turned around in his seat, so he could face his partner more. Encouraged by Nat’s silence, Paul rushed on. “Look, we know that Stone contacted Keller while he was in prison, and we know that after the visit, Keller was upset and agitated. We also know that in the hospital, witnesses all said that Keller wanted was to see his kid and he blamed Stone from keeping him away from Steve.”

“So?”

“Well think about it Nat, what if Stone got greedy and decided to pressure Keller, maybe by promising him to help with a reconciliation with his son, into getting close to Quintin, so they could steal the diamonds, for themselves…”

Nat nodded, “That does back up what Yates is saying, but it doesn’t explain why Keller took half the diamonds to the hospital in an envelope addressed to his son.”

“I’ve been thinking about that as well,” Paul continued, “We know Keller was arrested in his son’s apartment.”

Nat nodded.

“But what if Keller had gone there to say a final goodbye to the son he never got to say goodbye to, maybe he actually felt guilty for his son’s death or Hell, maybe he just went there to hide out. He would have known that Quintin was after him and at that stage, probably Stone, so he wanted to lay low for a couple of days, where he believed no one would come looking for him, after all he believed Steve was dead and the apartment would be left empty for a few days.  And you can bet that because he believed that Steve was dead, any deal he had with Stone was off. He probably already decided before everything happened not to share the diamonds with anyone, especially not Stone.”

“But a nosy neighbour got him arrested.”

“But not before he had managed to hide half the stones.” Paul reminded Nat.

“And sometime after his arrest and escape, he discovered Steve was alive.” Nat joined in as he started to accept the possibility of his partner’s theory.

“So, in a moment of drunken remorse he decides to finally do what he considered was the right thing for his kid…” Paul continued.

“And wanted to give Steve the rest of the stolen diamonds…”

 “Probably thinking his kid took after him and was as greedy as he was, and that the diamonds would make everything right between the two of them.”

Nat nodded, as the theory made sense and fitted into everything they knew so far, as he turned the ignition key and reversed the car out of the narrow parking space.

“Where are we going?” Paul asked, frowning.

“We were going to do our interviews with Stone and Keller to get their sides of the story about their kidnappings and everything that happened afterwards but now I think I want to ask Stone about his relationship with Brian Keller!” Nat growled as he slammed the gear stick into drive, and stamped on the accelerator, ignoring the loud squeal of the car’s wheels on the slick cement as the car fishtailed a little before gaining traction.


	42. Chapter 42

Stepping into the empty elevator, Roy hit the button that would take him up to the ICU and turned around to face the elevator doors as the doors began to slide closed. He jumped in surprise as a familiar voice shout, “Hold that elevator!”  and reached hit the button, forcing the doors to reopen the doors before they slid completely closed. He frowned in confusion as the two IA officers stepped into the elevator, “Nat, what are you doing here?” he asked before his eyes narrowed slightly with suspicion as he added, “Has something happened that I should know about?”

“Now, that’s the winning sixty-four-thousand-dollar question that we are going to ask Stone.” The senior officer answered, his annoyance and anger coloring the tone of his voice as he slapped the elevator button and waited for the door to slide closed before he added, “And he better have some answers or else…” as the elevator gave one sudden jerked and began to rise.

“I don’t understand,” Roy’s frown deepened as he turned to face the two men, “What question? Just what the Hell do you think Mike has done?”

“I think Stone was in cahoots with Keller with stealing the stolen diamonds from Quintin and I think he was responsible for his partner’s kidnapping when things went wrong after Keller got greedy and decided to keep the diamonds for himself.” Nat growled as he turned to look at Roy.

“Hey, hang on!” Roy protested angrily, “There’s no way Mike was involved.”

“Yeah?” Nat snarled, his anger rising as his hand darted out and slammed against the lift’s emergency stop button, bringing the elevator to a complete stop between floors before he turned towards Roy and demanded, “Well, tell me then, the reason why Stone went to San Quentin to see Keller three weeks before Keller’s release.”

“No, I don’t know where you got your information from but who ever it was got it wrong.” Roy tried to correct Nat’s accusations, “It’s in my report about the interview I carried out with Brian Keller after his arrest. He told me that Mike had met with him in some café after he was released to tell him to stay away from Steve -”

“So, you’re telling us that Stone also met with Keller after Keller’s release from jail?” Paul asked softly as he traded a surprised glance with his partner before returning his attention back on Roy.

Roy swallowed hard and nodded, his confusion growing as he looked at the two other officers as he asked hesitantly, “So that wasn’t the first time Mike met with Keller?”

Seeing the confusion in the Homicide lieutenant’s face, Nat shook his head, “No, it wasn’t. We know that he met with Keller at San Quentin three weeks before Keller’s release.”

“Are you sure?” Roy asked, already knowing the answer.

“We checked with the warden who confirmed the visit and Charlie checked the signature in the visitor’s sign in book for the day of the visit. The handwriting analysis prove that the signature in the book is Stone’s signature, no doubts about it.”

“I don’t understand, why would Mike visit Keller in the prison and not say anything about it?” Roy breathed.

“And that, Roy, is the sixty-four- thousand- dollar question and Stone better have a damn good answer if he doesn’t want to find himself on the wrong end of a pair of handcuffs!” Nat growled as he hit the button to restart the elevator.

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Stepping out of the elevator as the doors slid open, Nat and Paul silently followed Roy through the doors leading into the ICU and headed towards the nurse’s desk where the surgeon was standing, talking to one of the nurses before he looked down and began to jot some notes in a file.

“Dr Todds,” Roy called softly as they hurried towards him. The surgeon looked up as the three SFPD officers joined him at the desk and frowned, not recognizing the two officers with the Lieutenant as Roy rushed on, tilting his head in the general direction of the two officers with him as he hurriedly made the introductions, “This is Captain Nat Schreiner and Lieutenant Paul Anderson, Internal Affairs. They would like to speak to Mike for a few minutes about his kidnapping.”

The surgeon nodded as he studied the two grim faced officers, “Lieutenant Stone has just returned to the ward after undergoing surgery on his leg.” Seeing the determination on the faces of the two IA officers to speak to his patient, he handed the file he had been writing in back to the nurse and sighed as he turned and began to lead the officers towards his patient’s new hospital room. “I’m not sure just how coherent he is or if he will be to answer any of your questions yet, so soon after the anaesthetic, but I guess you can try.” He warned them before adding, “But the questioning session is to be kept light, and five minutes max, Gentlemen. You have to remember that the Lieutenant is still extremely ill and should be resting, not undergoing any type of interrogation.”

“We’ll go easy with him, Doc,” Nat readily agreed before asking, “I am also wondering when we will be able to have a few words with Inspector Keller, get his side of what happened with the kidnapping.”

 “Inspector Keller is not one of my patients and is still heavily sedated,” Dr Todds frowned, glancing into Steve’s room at the sleeping man in the bed as they walked past before returning his attention back to the two officers as they neared Mike’s new ICU room,  “but I do know that Dr Hunter is currently lowering his sedation to allow him to wake up later this afternoon. But it will be up to his surgeon to decide just when he is well enough to be questioned.”

“Okay, thanks Doc,” Nat smiled.

Stopping outside his patient’s room, the surgeon nodded before he reminded the three men, “You have five minutes, Gentlemen, and remember, the lieutenant is still a very ill man who has just undergone surgery, so keep your questioning session light. I don’t want him stressed.”

“We will keep it light, Doc, I promise,” Nate promised.

Eyeing the two IA officers, not quite able to keep the disbelief about their promise to go easy off his face, Todds gave them both a quick curt nod, warning them, “You better,” before he turned and walked away, calling over his shoulder, “Five minutes, Gentleman!” 

Waiting until the surgeon had walked away, Nat and Paul paused in the doorway as Roy entered the room and quietly spoke to Jeannie who was standing next to the bed, holding her father’s hand.

Nat watched as Jeannie glanced over her shoulder at them before she turned and said something softly to her father, gently kissing him on the cheek before she turned and walked across to the door.

Pausing as she reached the two IA officers, Jeannie forced a small smile, her eyes bright with unshed tears as she told them softly, “He’s still a little sleepy from the anesthesia.”

Nat smiled as he reached across and lightly squeezed Jeannie’s hand as he tried to reassure her, “We’ll go easy on him, I promise, we just have a few questions to ask him about what happened.”

Swallowing hard as she turned and looked back over her shoulder at her dad before she looked back at Nat, Jeannie nodded and squeezed Nat’s hand back, unable to vocalize her thanks.

Patting her hand before he released it, Nat smiled back at her before he suggested quietly, “Why don’t you grab yourself something to eat and a cup of coffee while we are talking to your dad, I promise we won’t be long.”

Jeannie nodded again before she stepped past Nat and Paul and left her father’s hospital room.

After watching Jeannie leave the room, Nat turned back and walked across to the side of the bed and looked down at Mike as his eyes traveled over the dark bruises and scrapes that marred the lieutenant’s face, the white bandage that encircled Mike’s chest and the heavy white cast suspended in the air by a complex system or ropes and pulleys that enclosed Mike’s leg. Looking back up at the now sleeping lieutenant’s face, Nat placed his hand lightly on Mike’s shoulder and gave it a gentle but firm shake as he ordered softly, “Mike, Mike Stone, it’s me, Nat Schreiner from Internal affairs, I need you to open your eyes and answer a couple questions of questions for me.” Nat waited a moment but when his request was answered with a soft snore, he shook Mike’s shoulder a little hard as he ordered a little louder, “Come on, Mike, wake up!”

His firm command was rewarded when Mike groaned and slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times against the bright overhead fluorescent light as he struggled to focus on the faces that floated above him. Mike’s eyes looked slightly unfocused and glazed, probably from the combination of the anesthetic and pain medication that he was on, Nat decided as Mike blinked again and slowly managed to focus on him.

“Nat?”   Mike asked slowly.

The senior IA officer nodded, “Yeah Mike, it’s me. I need to ask you a couple of questions about what your partner’s and your kidnapping.”

“Kidnapping?” Mike frowned in momentary confusion as he looked up at Nat.

“We believe that you were grabbed when you were-”

“Fishing,” Mike nodded as he finished Nat’s sentence as the fogginess that was clouding his mind began to lift a little. Nat nodded but stayed silent as he waited for Mike to remember the details. “Quintin grabbed … Steve and then… he grabbed me…” Mike murmured haltingly as the memory slowly returned, “he…he thought we knew… where Steve’s father was hiding the diamonds…”

“What diamonds?” Nat asked wanting to know just how much Mike knew about the diamonds and aware that the sedation still flowing through Mike’s system would make it less likely for Mike to consciously lie.

“The diamonds … from the diamond heist.” Mike murmured as he struggled to stay awake.

“And did you?” Nat asked quietly.

Mike shook his head, “No.”

“What about your partner? Did Keller know about his father and the missing diamonds?” Paul demanded.

“Steve…didn’t know his father…was even out of prison.” Mike breathed as his eyes drifted shut.

“But you did, didn’t you, Stone?” Paul growled, “we know that you visited Keller on at least two different occasions before the kidnapping. Now we want to know why and what you spoke about!”

Forcing his eyes open, Mike looked up at Nat as he tried hard to fight against the darkness that threatened to pull him back into its soft embrace as he tried to explain “When Keller started …calling the station…using some of…his gambling aliases…to try and contact Steve… I…I met with him again…to… to warn him… to stay away….from Steve.”

“Oh, come on Stone, do you really want us to believe that you met with Keller twice to warn him to stay away from your partner. The last time I checked, your partner is a grown man and quite capable to tell his father that he didn’t want anything to do with him, himself. Are you sure it wasn’t because you found out your partner’s father was cellmates with Quintin and you saw it as a good opportunity to find out where Quintin hid the diamonds?” Paul insisted. “Maybe take some of the diamonds, yourself? You said your partner didn’t want to have anything to do with his father, maybe you decided to act as a go- between in exchange for Keller finding out where the diamonds were or to rip them off himself and then split them with you? And that’s why you were met with Keller twice before the kidnapping, but your little plan backfired after Keller stole the diamonds and Quintin found out that you and Keller ripped him off!”

“That’s enough, Anderson!” Roy growled as the spikes on the heart monitor began to race across the small green screen as Mike shook his head in denial.

“No, no, that’s not … why.” Mike panted, “Keller used to…abuse Steve when he…was younger. Steve … still ...  still has nightmares about it.”

“We know about the abuse, Mike, we read the file you were collecting on Keller, but we have to wonder why you started the file on him?” Nat asked quietly, glancing in annoyance at his partner before he returned his attention back to the man in the bed.

“Steve…Steve refused…to talk about it… but I had the …feeling that…he suspected that…the car accident that…killed his mother… was not…an…accident at all.” Mike told Nat breathlessly, “So I…I decided to do some…investigating…of my…own. Contacted Modesto…P.D. to get some of…the reports. And spoke to a… Lieutenant McGinley… he was the lead…investigator…into the accident…and he…he was the one…who responded to the last domestic violence…incident in the Keller…house which landed…Steve in hospital…and sent Keller to jail. He…he warned me… to keep…Keller away from…Steve.” Mike’s eyes drifted closed as he began to lose the fight to stay awake and he mumbled. “He… he was the one…who suggested… that I go …to the jail and meet Keller, myself… to see why ….” Mike’s sentence ended with a soft snore as his head rolled gently to the side.

Sighing at what little information, Mike had given them, Paul ignored the angry glare Roy was giving him as he turned to his partner and asked, “Now what?”

Looking down at Mike before he looked back up at his partner, Nat answered, “I think that we should go and talk to this Lieutenant McGinley. Let’s see just how much he backs up what Stone just said.”

SOSF SOSF SOSF

Waiting until the two men had taken a seat in front of his desk, Rod McGinley opened his drawer and removed two thick folders, placing them on his desk. “So, I understand that you want to know if Lieutenant Stone contacted me about his partner’s father,” he began without preamble as he slid the two files across the desk to them in a silent invitation for the two IA men to peruse them as he spoke. “Well Gentlemen, I will tell you exactly what I told him. Brian Keller was a self-absorbed, mean bastard who has a rap sheet for everything ranging from drunk and disorderly, DUI’s as well as several convictions of assault with a deadly weapon as well as the final charge of gross vehicular manslaughter for the death of his wife. He should have been charged with murder, but we just couldn’t get enough evidence to convict him … And if I was his kid’s partner and friend, I sure as Hell would do everything in my power to keep that bastard away from him!”

“He was that bad?” Nat asked, already suspecting that he knew the answer to that question after reading the file that Stone had collected on the man but wanting confirmation from an officer who had actually dealt with the man.

 “No, he wasn’t just that bad, he was worse!” McGinley growled as he nodded to the files that were still laying on the desk, untouched in front of the two IA officers. “The Keller house was one of our regular call-outs with the neighbors always calling in with complaints that they could hear the sounds of some kind of a violent confrontation, usually the sounds of objects being smashed, Keller yelling abuse, loud thumps and banging and and Mrs Keller’s screams of terror, coming from the house. The officers would respond and usually be met at the door by Keller who insisted that the neighbors were exaggerating, and he had just had a small domestic tiff with the missus.” McGinley shook his head in disgust, “So rather than check and have to deal with the paperwork of a domestic assault later, the responding officers usually just took Keller’s word and would leave.”

Nat nodded, aware until a few short years ago, officers tended to turn a blind eye to domestic abuse, with many believing what happened between a wife and husband behind closed doors, should remain behind closed doors.

“So, one day about fifteen or sixteen years ago, when I was on patrol, we got our usual call to the Keller’s house, the neighbors reported the sounds of an extremely violent fight, with lots of screaming, smashing of furniture, the usual thing but this time they said it sounded more violent then normal and asked that we get over there fast.” Swallowing hard, the lieutenant stare at a spot on the wall behind Nat’s shoulder as his eyes glazed over a little as he relived responding to the Keller’s house that day, “Hell I still remember that call like it happened yesterday. It was bad…one of the worse call-outs that I have ever attended…”

Glancing at his partner before returning his attention back to the Modesto police lieutenant, and not sure if he really wanted to know all the details on the assault of a child by a parent, especially when that child was now a work colleague, he forced himself to ask, “What happened?”

“When we arrived, Keller was drunk and belligerent,” McGinley began softly, his hands curling up into tight fists as he recalled the events that happened that day, “ he met us at the front door and did his usual insistence that there wasn’t anything wrong inside the house, that he had just had a little disagreement with the missus and how it was no one else’s business , especially not ours. I could hear a woman sobbing hysterically inside the house. So, I forced my way past Keller as he tried to close the door and into the house. And that’s when I saw all the damage, the broken furniture and the cracked and broken wall that looked like a body had been thrown up hard against it… and that’s when I saw Jenny… I mean Mrs Keller sitting on the floor next to the wall, she had obviously been severely beaten and she was cradling what I first believed was the dead body of her son in her arms. The kid had been beaten so bad…”

Reaching for the pen as he struggled to contain his revulsion, horror and anger that his memories of that day still brought to the surface, even after sixteen years, McGinley began to click the end of the pen as he continued, “It was only after I felt for a pulse and found one that I realized that Steve was even alive. I’ll admit that it took all my strength and training not to get up and beat Keller to a pulp right then and there especially when Keller claimed that the fight and the assaults he had inflicted on his wife and son were their fault not his. He claimed that Jenny should have kept her damn mouth shut about he spent his money and the brat should have not have tried to interfere when he had attempted to bring her back into line.” McKinley shook his head as he threw the pen down on the table and reached for one of the untouched files sitting in front of the two SFPD internal affairs officers. Opening it up, he took out several photos of a severely beaten woman and child, throwing them down one by one on the desk for the officers to see as he added sarcastically, “Yeah, like beating your twelve-year-old son so badly that he is left with severe bruising to his back, face and arms, four broken ribs. Then he suffers a moderate concussion after you have pick him and throw him across the room and into the wall for trying to protect his mother when you were beating her, and you claim it’s all his fault and not yours! And it’s not the first time your kid has been admitted to hospital for similar questionable injuries!”

“I don’t understand, if he was so violent towards his wife and his son, why didn’t she just leave?” Paul frowned.

“From what Jenny told me, that first night after the assault when Steve was in the hospital, that she had tried to leave multiple times, but she always returned after he threatened that if she didn’t, he would hunt them down and kill both of them. She was terrified of him and had no doubts that he would carry out his threats.” McGinley shook his head, “It took me three days to get her to press charges against Keller and two more days to convince her to leave for him for good.” Leaning back in his chair, McGinley looked across the desk at Nat as he said softly, “I was also one of the responding officers who attended the accident in which Jenny Keller was killed, a few years later. I was shocked to find her in the car with Brian, especially as Keller was drunk. I don’t know how Keller convinced her to meet him in a restaurant, but our investigations uncovered a witness, a waiter at the restaurant, who told us Jenny looked terrified during the dinner and had not wanted to leave with Brian, she had wanted to leave alone. The waiter had admitted he had seen Brian roughly grab her arm at the table as they were leaving, and he had overheard Keller threaten Jenny with hurting the brat if she didn’t leave with him, but the evidence was never heard in court.”

“Why not?” Nat frowned.

“Because the waiter had recanted his statement when his boss had threatened him with dismissal for eavesdropping on customers’ conversations. If you want my opinion, that accident wasn’t an accident at all, Brian Keller finally made good on his threat to kill his wife if she ever left him. The damage was all on the passenger side where Jenny Keller was sitting. Keller got out with barely a scratch.”  
  
“So do you think that the accident wasn’t just an accident, that Keller murdered her?” Paul asked.

“I do, and I can tell you now, so does his son.  At Keller’s trial, I heard Steve tell his father, just before Keller was escorted down to the holding cell, that he knew that what happened was not an accident and that he would never forgive him for murdering his mother nor did he ever want to see him again.” McGinley told Paul before returning his attention back to Nat, “So, you want to know what I told Stone when he asked me about his partner’s father. I told him what I just told you. And I told him to go to San Quentin, talk to Keller for just half an hour because half an hour is all the time Stone would need to see just what a self-absorbed, uncaring bastard he really was. I also suggested that if Stone cared about Steve as much as he claimed he did, that he would not let his father get within one hundred miles of him.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Nat smiled as he rose from his chair.

McKinley nodded as he watched Paul stand up and follow his partner towards the door.

Stopping as he reached the door, Nat turned back towards the lieutenant and frowned, “Just one more thing, Stone said that after he met with Keller in prison and warned him to stay away from his son, that Keller started to ring the station after his release, using some of his gambling aliases, trying to reach his son. Any idea why?”

Looking up from gathering the photos that he had scattered across his desk to return them to the folder, McKinley frowned, “If Keller was trying to reach Steve, it would have been because he wanted and expected something like money or a place to stay and not because he wanted to apologize to the kid or try and make up for the hell he had put him through his whole life.”

Nat stared at the lieutenant for a few moments as he digested what McKinley had just told him before he gave a single curt nod and thanked the lieutenant. Turning, he walked out of the office with Paul following closely behind.

Waiting until they reached their car, Paul looked across at his partner and frowned, “Well McGinley backed up what Stone told us, so what now?”

Nat paused with his hand resting on the door handle as he looked across the roof of the car at his partner, “McGinley may have explained why Stone went to meet with Keller in the prison, but he doesn’t know just what the two of them spoke about and it doesn’t explain why Stone met with Keller afterwards, a meeting might I add that Stone kept secret. All we know about those meetings and conversations is what Stone told us, that he met with Keller to warn him to stay away from his son, but we just have Stone’s word that that’s all they spoke about. We also know that Stone collected quite an extensive file on Keller himself, a file that he kept in a locked drawer, and again, just like the two meetings with Keller, Stone kept the file a secret and I want to know the real reason why! I want to know if Stone was really trying to protect his partner as he claims, or if Yates is telling the truth and that Stone was trying to hold something over Keller, maybe a reconciliation with his son or something Stone found when he was compiling the file, something that he was able to use to force Keller to share the diamonds that he had stolen from Quintin.”

Opening the car door and sliding in behind the steering wheel, Nat waited until his partner also climbed into the car beside him and closed the door before he started the engine, easing the large car out of its parking space before driving towards the parking lot entrance as he continued, “So, when we get back to San Francisco, I want you to re-interview Yates, he claims that Keller was grabbed by Quintin in an attempt to force Stone to tell him where Stone and Keller’s father had hidden the diamonds. I want you to find out what else he knows, not only about the stolen diamonds, but also about Stone’s relationship with Brian Keller and why Quintin believed Stone was in on stealing the diamonds from him with Keller.”

Paul nodded his acknowledgement of his partner’s orders. He frowned as he waited until Nat pulled out of the parking lot and into the traffic lane heading west before he asked, “If I’m re-interviewing Yates, what are you going to do?”

After looking in his rear vision mirror before pulling into the next lane of traffic to overtake a slower car, Nat glanced at the traffic ahead before he looked back at his partner, “Didn’t the surgeon say that they were lowering Keller’s sedation to allow him to wake up this afternoon?”

Paul’s frown deepened as he answered slowly, “Yeah, so?”

“Well, I intend to be there when he does!” Nat answered, his hands tightening around the steering wheel as he stepped on the accelerator and overtook another slower moving car.


	43. Chapter 43

“My lawyer tells me that you want to talk to me about doing some sort of a deal,” Micky Yates lifted his handcuffed hands and placed them behind his head before he leaned back on two legs of the chair he was sitting on, ignoring the uniformed officer who had brought him up from the holding cell where he had spent the last twenty -four hours, and grinned at the Internal Affairs officer sitting on the other side of the table. “So, what are ya offering?”

“You’re looking good for getting the death penalty for the aggravated kidnapping and the attempted murder of two police officers, and a hell of a lot more charges that I can’t be bother to go through.” Leaning forward, with his arms resting on the table, Anderson consciously stopped the look of disdain that he was feeling towards the sleazeball sitting opposite him from showing on his face as he said softly, “But maybe, just maybe, if you decide to co-operate, I can convince the District Attorney to take the death penalty off the table.”

“Go on.” Yates eyed the IA officer with suspicion.

“I want you to tell me everything you know about Lieutenant Stone’s involvement with Keller’s father, Quintin, the stolen diamonds and this whole damn mess!”

Yates stared at him for a moment before a small smile tugged at his lips and his eyes lit up as he realized just how he could use the offer of a plea deal to his advantage. Lifting his hands back over his head, his chair crashed back down on all four legs as he placed his hands on the table, clasping them together, as he lent forward, “Well, well, well, so you want to know if Stone’s a dirty cop, do you? Or maybe, just maybe, the dirty cop you’re looking for isn’t Stone at all, maybe, just maybe it’s his partner. Have you consider that?”

“Wait, just wait,” Paul gasped, unable to keep the surprise from his face as he traded disbelieving looks with the officer standing behind Yates before returning his attention back to the now smiling, handcuffed man sitting in front of him as he asked in disbelief, “Are you saying that Inspector Keller and not Lieutenant Stone was the one who was working with his father to rip the diamonds off of Quintin?”

“Now, it looks like you have a bit of a conundrum about just which one of those two is your dirty cop and which one was just the innocent bystander who got caught up in all this mess, doesn’t it?” Yates drawled slowly, his cold smile growing.

“How do I know that you claim you know is the truth and not just a lie to get you a better deal?” Paul asked skeptically.

 “Well cop, if you want to find out just who your dirty cop really is, it’s going to cost you, and I don’t mean just taking the death penalty off the table. I want full immunity and I mean _full_ immunity where I walk free with nothing hanging over my head if I tell you just who your dirty cop is and everything I know about him. And I’m not just talking about Brian Keller, Sam Quintin and the diamonds.” Yates laughed before leaning back onto two legs of his chair and placing his handcuffed hands behind his head again, “You see, Quintin wasn’t the only one whom Keller shared a cell with in prison, and on those loonnggg, lonely nights, Keller liked to talk about his wife, about his kid who he discovered was a cop and about his kid’s partner, especially after I would ply him full of some good ol’ fashion prison home-brewed moonshine. And believe me, Keller told me enough about your dirty cop to put your cop behind bars for years…” Yates grinned, cockily, as he looked across the table at Anderson, “So, if I was you, Mr Internal Affairs Officer, and I wanted to know just who my dirty cop is, what he has done and get off the streets for ever, then I wouldn’t be sitting here wasting my time asking ridiculous questions that I know that the District Attorney is just going to be asking again later, instead I would get my ass out of the door and trying my God damn best to arrange my immunity.”


End file.
